Oil spill problems and sustainable response strategies through new technologies

Abstract

Crude oil and petroleum products are widespread water and soil pollutants resulting from marine and terrestrial spillages. International statistics of oil spill sizes for all incidents indicate that the majority of oil spills are small (less than 7 tonnes). The major accidents that happen in the oil industry contribute only a small fraction of the total oil which enters the environment. However, the nature of accidental releases is that they highly pollute small areas and have the potential to devastate the biota locally. There are several routes by which oil can get back to humans from accidental spills, e.g. through accumulation in fish and shellfish, through consumption of contaminated groundwater. Although advances have been made in the prevention of accidents, this does not apply in all countries, and by the random nature of oil spill events, total prevention is not feasible. Therefore, considerable world-wide effort has gone into strategies for minimising accidental spills and the design of new remedial technologies. This paper summarizes new knowledge as well as research and technology gaps essential for developing appropriate decision-making tools in actual spill scenarios. Since oil exploration is being driven into deeper waters and more remote, fragile environments, the risk of future accidents becomes much higher. The innovative safety and accident prevention approaches summarized in this paper are currently important for a range of stakeholders, including the oil industry, the scientific community and the public. Ultimately an integrated approach to prevention and remediation that accelerates an early warning protocol in the event of a spill would get the most appropriate technology selected and implemented as early as possible - the first few hours after a spill are crucial to the outcome of the remedial effort. A particular focus is made on bioremediation as environmentally harmless, cost-effective and relatively inexpensive technology. Greater penetration into the remedial technologies market depends on the harmonization of environment legislation and the application of modern laboratory techniques, e.g. ecogenomics, to improve the predictability of bioremediation.

Recent Development of Advanced Materials with Special Wettability for Selective Oil/Water Separation

“…In the meantime, the increased oil leakage and oil spill accidents have become one of the top environmental concerns. [1][2][3] Marine resources are quite vulnerable to such anthropogenic disasters. For example, the Exxon Valdez massive oil spill accident brought fatal damage to nearly 300 000 living species in the habitat, and the longterm ecological impact still lasts.…”

Remediation of soil contaminated by PAHs and TPH using alkaline activated persulfate enhanced by surfactant addition at flow conditions

“…Soil and groundwater contamination by organic compounds resulting from human activities has become a major problem . Among these organic pollutants, those derived from the accidental release of petroleum hydrocarbon from storage tanks are a widespread cause of soil and groundwater pollution . These contaminants generally have low solubility and persist as a separate liquid phase, termed non‐aqueous phase liquids (or NAPLs).…”

Biostimulation proved to be the most efficient method in the comparison of in situ soil remediation treatments after a simulated oil spill accident

“…Terrestrial oil spillages are more common than aquatic ones, although they typically pollute areas only locally and receive less publicity than the dramatic marine tanker or platform incidents (Ivshina et al 2015). According to the data collection organized by the European Soil Data Centre in 2011–2012, mineral oil contributes to 24 % of soil and 22 % of groundwater contamination in Europe while benzene, toluene, ethylbenzene, and xylene (BTEX) contributions are 10 and 15 %, respectively (van Liedekerke et al 2014; Panagos et al 2013).…”

“…The techniques to control and minimize the oil spill spread in terrestrial areas include (i) soil berms, sorbent barriers or trenches which can enclose the soil and prevent oil flow into the soil, (ii) slurry walls constructed into a vertically excavated trench to enclose or redirect the contaminated groundwater, and (iii) viscous liquid barriers injected in the subsurface to isolate the contaminants (Ivshina et al 2015). The extent of contamination also depends on how fast the post-spill actions are started.…”

“…On the land, the prediction of movement and effects of spill are more accurate than in aquatic environments and the response or remediation strategies are thus easier to design. The slow weathering processes in soil and the strict standards usually set for the soil cleanup are other factors that help in removing most of the spilled oil (Ivshina et al 2015). …”