Laboratory Studies of the Accommodation of Some Crude and Residual Fuel Oils in Sea Water

Abstract

Concentrations of oil accommodated in sea water under laboratory conditions are directly related to the amount added and the degree of turbulence, but inversely related to temperature. The major fraction (87–98%) of this oil is in particulate form ranging in size from about 1 to 30 μ, presumably small droplets. The exact ratio of the particulate to subparticulate fractions is directly related to the apparent viscosity of each individual oil. Of the total amount of oil initially added, 9–15% appeared in sea water at the end of the 7-days experiments. Except in the proximity of recent oil slicks, the oil concentrations observed in these experiments are one to two orders of magnitude greater than the concentrations generally observed in the marine environment off eastern Canada.

Chemical characterization of a water soluble fraction (WSF) of crude oil

“…That is interesting for using the WSF process in long-term ecotoxicological experiments since the evaporation is known to be the major natural way in the elimination of petroleum products in marine environment. 6 ' 7 We also observe in GC the presence of a strong unresolved complex mixture (Figure 1) that was already reported as a characterization of the oil pollution in environmental and biological samples. 8 ' 9 A relative enrichment of aromatic hydrocarbons and a strong decrease of n-alkanes proportion in total hydrocarbons of resulting WSF (Table I) due to their lower solubility in seawater 10 is also noticed (Figure 1).…”

Growth and Food Conversion by Atlantic Salmon Parr during 40 Days' Exposure to Crude Oil

“…The resulting oiled fresh water was diluted to the required concentrations with dechlorinated fresh water, and supplied to two 350-L exposure tanks at rates of about 600 mL/min. The water-accommodated fraction produced from Hibernia crude in this manner contained finely dispersed microdroplets of oil in addition to water-soluble components (Hutcheson et al 1987), typically the form in which oil appears to be distributed during and after an oil spill (Forrester 1971;Gordon et al 1973). Gas chromatograms of the n-alkane fraction ( Figure 1) and analyses of the aromatic content of the water-accommodated fraction (Table 1) showed the usual distribution of aliphatic and aromatic hydrocarbons expected under these conditions.…”

Fate of crude oil spilled on sea water contained in outdoor tanks

“…The most abundant hydrocarbons accommodated in seawater appear to be the medium molecular weight aromatics (two-and three-ring compounds). 4. The relative importance of the numerous weathering processes is influenced greatly by the composition of spilled oil and environmental factors such as turbulence and temperature.…”