In situ burning is an oil spill response option particularly suited to remote ice-covered waters. The key to effective in situ burning is thick oil slicks. In drift ice conditions (< 7/10 ths) oil spills can spread to become too thin to ignite. Fire booms can be used to maintain adequate slick thickness in open water; however, even light ice conditions make the use of booms challenging. Buist et al. 2008 presented the results of a successful experimental program on using a nonproprietary hydrocarbon based cold-water herding agent (called USN) to burn oil in drift ice. Since the 2008 paper: Field experiments were performed off Svalbard in May 2008 to test the ability of USN herding agent to thicken oil slicks on water among very open drift ice for subsequent burning: a 630-L spill of crude oil was released, allowed to spread to an unignitable thickness of 0.4 mm, herded to a thickness of 4 mm, ignited and efficiently removed; Experiments were carried out in the lab at various scales and in a large refrigerated test tank to determine if second-generation fluorosurfactants or silicone-based surfactants were better candidates than the USN formulation for cold-water applications: one new silicone formulation significantly outperformed the USN herder; Work on developing application systems for herders in drift ice situations was started.
In situ burning of crude oil on water can be an extremely effective oil spill countermeasure, particularly in remote offshore areas and on cold water where conventional countermeasures are limited. In order for in situ burning to be an efficient mitigative technique, the oil must be contained and thickened. A novel fireproof boom has been researched, developed, and tested that can: (1) survive, without damage, long-term exposure to the heat generated by burning crude oil in situ; (2) contain burning crude oil in at least sea states up to three and at current speeds up to 0.4 m/s without loss of combustion intensity; (3) survive without damage for long periods at sea; and (4) withstand contact with small ice features.
Small- and mid-scale laboratory tests were undertaken to investigate the behavior and cleanup of spills of waxy crude oils at sea. The results indicate that the behavior of such oils is very different from that of conventional oils. This difference is likely due primarily to the precipitation of waxes, asphaltenes, and other unknown resinous compounds as the oil evaporates or as environmental temperatures drop. Thus, the oil spreads, evaporates, and naturally disperses very slowly, or in the extreme, even gels into a semisolid mass. Waxy oil spills can be expected to survive on the sea surface considerably longer than an equivalent spill of conventional crude. The results of simple countermeasure tests suggest that waxy crude oil spills will be difficult to clean up, since they are very viscous, do not adhere well to oleophilic surfaces, and are extremely resistant to chemical dispersants.
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