Cleaning Products Used in Operations After the Amoco Cadiz Disaster

Abstract

Controlling the Amoco Cadiz spill and cleaning the sea and the coast of Brittany were made highly difficult by rough sea conditions and the location of the grounding. The rapid formation of “chocolate mousse” limited severely the efficiency of the different techniques used. At sea, restrictions on the use of dispersants led to use of both sinking and absorbing agents, including an experimental product, rubber powder. On the coast, several types of chemicals were used or tried; emulsion breakers, sorbents, dispersants, and biodegrading products. Practical examples were given of how some of these products could help the cleanup operations on beaches, rocks, and piers and the handling of oil, polluted sand, and debris. The use of sorbents demonstrated that, despite the additional cost, this approach could be helpful if adequate operational techniques for such use were available.

Field evaluations of marine oil spill bioremediation.

“…The approaching tourist season seems to have prevented extended experimentation, and other techniques were used to complete the cleanup operations. Hence, the limited results were inconclusive (14). Some changes in oil content were found in these experiments, but it was not clear if the removal was physically or biologically mediated.…”

“…In some places, oily sand was overlaid with clean sand deposited as a result of natural coastal processes. Repeated ploughing and harrowing were used to clean the intertidal zone, and four different products were tested to assess the possibility of promoting the biodegradation of oil trapped in sand (14): (i) a commercial cleaning compound containing nutrients especially adapted to restore oiled soils; (ii) a mixture of lyophilized adapted bacteria, dispersant, and nutrient; (iii) a chemical fertilizer used in agriculture; and (iv) a talc treated with 0.1% of surfactant.…”

Bioremediation of Oil on Shoreline Environments: Development of Techniques and Guidelines

“…Representative marine vessel or site incidents include the Amoco Cadiz [49], the Apex Barge [50], the Mega Borg [51]; Prall's Island, New Jersey [52], and Seal Beach, California [52]. Bioremediation agents used at these sites included inorganic nutrients and microbial inocula.…”