Leakage effects of pollution water in the Soil characteristics in the refineries " Bandar-Abbas Refinery Case Study"

In this work, the effects of water and oily water leakage on the soil characteristics in the industrial complex such as refineries are investigated. In a real case study, the leakage from cooling water pounds in Bandar-Abbas refinery in south coasts of Iran is investigated. This refinery was built about 14 years ago and recently the evidence of leakage from pounds has been observed. A field investigation program with ten bore holes around the water pounds in the refinery has been carried out to inspect the effects of leakage on the soil and scouring of it. The main soil mechanic characteristics such as the result of Standard Penetration Test (SPT), soil dry density and humidity percentage arecaptured in the field and laboratory investigations. It is concluded that the depth of affected soil by leakage is about 5 to 6 meters. The leakage is especially occurred in the east side of the pounds. Thebest way to prevent the leakage and to improve the affected soil characteristics is selected based on the soil mechanics data. The grout injection in the regular pattern all around the water pounds is assigned as the applicable method to cease the leakage and to improve the soil stability.