Multi-Criteria Analysis of Different Approaches to Protect the Marine and Coastal Environment from Oil Spills

Abstract

Marine pollution has many different sources. This study focuses on oil spills that may occur after a ship collision or during oil extraction and other oil tanker activities. The most critical oil spill accidents are presented, followed by the regulatory framework on maritime oil spill management. Among the measures taken towards the protection of the marine and coastal environment from oil pollution are floating booms and barriers, oil collecting materials and vessels, absorbent materials, chemical dispersants, other chemicals, physical degradation, biodegradation, on-site oil burning. These measures may assist coastal facilities and local authorities in their strategic development of oil spill mitigation planning and response towards coastal and marine protection from oil spills. In the present paper, the aim is to rank the approaches of dealing with the oil spill by means of a multicriteria method. The theoretical background of the selected multicriteria method, called PROMETHEE, is briefly presented; necessary to understand the ranking of the treatment approaches as well as the subsequent findings of the possible criteria for the analysis. Almost all of the scenarios evaluated rank floating booms and barriers as the most suitable methods to deal with oil spill containment, followed by oil collecting materials and vessels.

Implementation of Sustainable Motorways of the Sea Services Multi-Criteria Analysis of a Croatian Port System

“…The alternatives were evaluated and compared according to the minimum or maximum values of the criteria. As stated above, the criteria weighting and the criteria preference function are two important segments of PROMETHEE II [56]. The preference functions of PROMETHEE for each criterion reflect the intensity of preference of one alternative over another.…”

“…Visual PROMETHEE software uses the average weights and the performance/effectiveness assessment according to experts for each alternative (scenario) per criterion (in this case, criteria group). The application can assess which alternatives can be considered best with respect to the criteria per scenario [56]. The Visual PROMETHEE can handle differences among evaluations of variants, made for all criteria [57].…”

Facile Fabrication of Superhydrophobic Cross-Linked Nanocellulose Aerogels for Oil–Water Separation

“…Oil spill and wastewater have posed severe threats to the ecological environment and human health [ 1 , 2 , 3 ]. Traditional response tactics for oil spill cleanup include in-situ combustion, gas flotation, centrifugation, chemical precipitation, and so on [ 4 , 5 , 6 ]. However, most of these response countermeasures suffer from inefficient separation, lower selectivity, and energy-extensive consumption, which limit their wide application in oil/water separation.…”

Visualization Tests on Variation of Scour Front under a Pipeline in Steady Currents

“…Extension of the local scour along a pipeline triggers pipeline spanning, which can lead to fatigue failure of the pipeline due to vortex-induced vibration. Oil accidents, including pipeline failure, can cause environmental and ecological catastrophes, and bring significant impacts to local areas [1]. Thus, local scour under a pipeline has been the subject of extensive research efforts.…”