Pond Boss Forums INTRO Questions & Observations oil spill

We have a pond customer that had a fuel oil spill approx. 10 gallons in their basement. Some of the oil got under concrete slab anyone with knowledge on how to get rid of smell or something to break it down. Pond is 50 foot from house and worried it might leech into pond.
Thanks for all replies
Scott

Scott:

Even with the pain it would cause, the best way may be to cut a hole in the slab and dig it out. Fuel oil is considered fairly immobile and should not migrate very far, especially if it is under the slab. Some of the vapors (naphthalene) can cause problems and are potentially toxic. As far as breaking down the oil, combustion is the best solution (wait, not with fire). Just like the organic material on the bottom of a pond, you need to get oxygen to the oil in order to facilitate bacterial breakdown. Hydrogen peroxide is one method, there are also commercially available chemicals called ORC (oxygen release compounds) that are fairly expensive. These are basically the same as time release "milk of magnesia". These oxygen donor compounds would be pumped through holes drilled in the slab. The breakdown process is slow (optimistically 6-months) and is dependent on the organic content of the soil. Putting solvents or other chemicals in the soil is not an option.

If soil is removed, they will need to be careful not to jeopardize the structure. I saw an old farmhouse where the same thing happened. An excavation company removed the oily soil one bucket at a time and replaced it with sand. Materials continued to shift and about a year later the house started to settle. Not sure what happened but I know it involved a structural engineer and a few dollars. Better to get the engineer involved in the beginning.

Hope that helps, they may need professional help.

I can't help with the leeching part, but as far as cleaning the basement, we use a biodegradeable degreaser called Natural Blue for cleaning oil and diesal. We soak up the excess, then spray liberally with NB. It also has a strong clean smell.

Scott,
This is very bad news. I had a guy I worked with have that happen. The site legally became a toxic waste site and it cost 10's of thousands to repair. the whole slab had to be dug up and the sub soil excavated out and removed to a special waste dump that handles this kind of waste. The oil seeped quickly into the sub soil and contaminated down as much as 8 feet into the soil. Good luck to this guy handling that mess.

Scott,
There are much better ways of cleaning up oil spills than in years past. I have seen demo's of products that nueturalize oils (though I can't remember product names) & the leftovers can be disposed of in a landfill. Sorry I can't give product names but a search on line should find something. When I get time I'll look too.

Scott,
Here's a site with one of the products I refered to :
http://www.oilgator.com/Gator_News/What_is_Oil_Gator/what_is_oil_gator.htm