TY - THES

T1 - Economic comparison of remediation methods for hydrocarbon contaminated areas

AU - Strasser, Franz

N1 - embargoed until null

PY - 2009

Y1 - 2009

N2 - Whenever a site which is contaminated with hydrocarbons is found, one of the first questions that usually arises is which decontamination method is best suited for the decontamination process. This master thesis can be seen as an attempt to answer this question from a technical and an economic point of view, and in a scientifically sound way. The advantages and disadvantages, the technical suitability and the most important factors which govern the costs of these remediation methods, which are commonly used within the industry, have been analysed at the beginning of the thesis. Additionally, the key factors such as human health, impact on the environment, technical feasibility and economic factors which need to be considered when deciding on a suitable remediation method have also been investigated. After these investigations, a framework is presented which leads to the choice of the remediation method best suited for remediating a contaminated site under consideration of the key factors. The practical part of the master thesis deals with an economic comparison of remediation methods, in order to compare the costs of insitu methods with excavation costs. The economic comparison was carried out with data provided by an Oil&Gas company, using the costs of nine insitu projects which have been compared with the excavation costs that would have accumulated if excavation had been carried out (instead of the insitu method). For that purpose, a program was developed which is able to calculate the excavation costs of these ten investigated projects.

AB - Whenever a site which is contaminated with hydrocarbons is found, one of the first questions that usually arises is which decontamination method is best suited for the decontamination process. This master thesis can be seen as an attempt to answer this question from a technical and an economic point of view, and in a scientifically sound way. The advantages and disadvantages, the technical suitability and the most important factors which govern the costs of these remediation methods, which are commonly used within the industry, have been analysed at the beginning of the thesis. Additionally, the key factors such as human health, impact on the environment, technical feasibility and economic factors which need to be considered when deciding on a suitable remediation method have also been investigated. After these investigations, a framework is presented which leads to the choice of the remediation method best suited for remediating a contaminated site under consideration of the key factors. The practical part of the master thesis deals with an economic comparison of remediation methods, in order to compare the costs of insitu methods with excavation costs. The economic comparison was carried out with data provided by an Oil&Gas company, using the costs of nine insitu projects which have been compared with the excavation costs that would have accumulated if excavation had been carried out (instead of the insitu method). For that purpose, a program was developed which is able to calculate the excavation costs of these ten investigated projects.

KW - remediation methods risk management legislation economic comparison Monte Carlo simulation

KW - Dekontaminationsmethoden Risiko Management Gesetzliche Lage Wirtschaftlicher Vergleich Monte Carlo Simulation

M3 - Master's Thesis

ER -