CDE systems transform oil contaminated land in Kuwait

The world's largest anthropogenic oil spill in Kuwait is being cleaned up with over eight million tonnes of soil having been remediated. The project is being carried out by the KAK-Lamor JV/C, which is using CDE soil washing plants and bioremediation in the $3-billion restoration effort.

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RESTORATION work is making significant progress on the site of the world's largest anthropogenic oil spill in Kuwait, with over eight million tonnes of soil having been cleaned through a combination of washing and bioremediation.

The cleanup is part of a massive effort by the KAK-Lamor JV/C, a joint venture between Kuwaiti EPC contractors Khaled Ali Al-Kharafi & Brothers Co and Finnish remediation specialist Lamor.

The restoration falls under the Kuwait Environmental Remediation Program (KERP), established over a decade ago by the United Nations Compensation Commission (UNCC), Kuwait National Focal Point (KNFP), and Kuwait Oil Company (KOC). KERP was created to address the extensive contamination left by the Gulf War, which included wet and dry oil lakes, contaminated soil, and sludge.

Following the destruction of some 700 oil wells in the early 1990s, approximately 26 million cu m of soil was contaminated with crude oil, which called for the launch of one of the world's most extensive remediation programmes.

The UNCC is providing $3 billion in funding to clean up a 300-sq km area containing the contaminated soil.

KAK-Lamor JV/C is managing two major remediation projects - one in northern and one in southern Kuwait - which together account for about a quarter of the total contaminated area.

To support these efforts, the joint venture appointed global wet processing technology company CDE to supply two soil washing plants, one for each location, in conjunction with its local partner Gulf Center United Industrial Equipment Co.

Construction began in 2023, with the northern facility starting operations later that year and the southern facility coming online in early 2024. Both plants have a throughput capacity of 50 to 100 tonnes per hour (tph), depending on the fines content of the feed material.

WASHING AND BIOREMEDIATION