The ability of three chemical oxidants(Fenton’s reagent, Potassium permanganate and Potassium persulfate) to degrade one of the
recalcitrant non-hydrocarbon components of crude oil- the porphyrins at three different pH media was investigated in this work and the
results showed that the oxidants removed less than 10% of the porphyrins on the average, after two months of treatment. The porphyrins
were found to experience degradation of 5%,7% and 4% on the average for the acidic, neutral and basic soils respectively for the vanadyl
(VO2+) porphyrins and a reduction of 7%,15% and 7% on the average for the acidic ,neutral and basic soils respectively for the Nickel
(Ni2+) porphyrins. This highlighted the recalcitrant nature of porphyrins, but also showed that they are not perfectly so in the presence of
chemical oxidants.
Key words: Vanadyl porphyrins; Fenton’s reagent; potassium permanganate; potassium persulfate; tar balls
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