Abstract

The process of modeling contaminant volume, rainfall intensity, and soil depth was investigated on diesel leaching and retention in soil subjected to oil pollution from five Base Transceiver Stations. The experimental runs were carried out over three operating parameters which include contaminant volume (50-350 ml), rainfall intensity (5- 10 mm/h), and soil depth (30 - 90 cm) using Response Surface Methodology. Among all variables, soil depth and rainfall intensity significantly influenced the diesel leaching rates. According to results that were found out via ANOVA, the model was fitted to the experimental data with high coefficients. Furthermore, using the statistical modeling approach, the rates predicted via RSM were estimated by varying the contaminant volume at 10 ml, rainfall intensity is 7.5 mm/h; soil depth yielded 54.3 cm while the amount of diesel leached and retained gave 5958.8 mg/L and 3682.5% respectively at the desirability of 1.00. However, at a soil depth of 30 cm, contaminant volume was found to be 50 ml, rainfall intensity is at 10 mm/h to obtain maximum diesel leaching rates, and the amount retained in the soil. The model was validated by computing the %error, which ranges between 0.04 and 8%. This indicates that the model can be implemented.

Key words: Diesel leaching, soil pollution, organic pollutants.