Screening Level Assessment of Risks Due to Dioxin Emissions from Burning Oil from the BP Deepwater Horizon Gulf of Mexico Spill

Abstract

Between April 28 and July 19 of 2010, the U.S. Coast Guard conducted in situ oil burns as one approach used for the management of oil spilled after the explosion and subsequent sinking of the BP Deepwater Horizon platform in the Gulf of Mexico. The purpose of this paper is to describe a screening level assessment of the exposures and risks posed by the dioxin emissions from these fires. Using upper estimates for the oil burn emission factor, modeled air and fish concentrations, and conservative exposure assumptions, the potential cancer risk was estimated for three scenarios: inhalation exposure to workers, inhalation exposure to residents on the mainland, and fish ingestion exposures to residents. U.S. EPA's AERMOD model was used to estimate air concentrations in the immediate vicinity of the oil burns and NOAA's HYSPLIT model was used to estimate more distant air concentrations and deposition rates. The lifetime incremental cancer risks were estimated as 6 × 10(-8) for inhalation by workers, 6 × 10(-12) for inhalation by onshore residents, and 6 × 10(-8) for fish consumption by residents. For all scenarios, the risk estimates represent upper bounds and actual risks would be expected to be less.

Characteristics of black carbon aerosol from a surface oil burn during the Deepwater Horizon oil spill

“…The volume of oil burned between 20 April and 19 July is estimated to be 220,000-313,000 barrels (bbls) consumed in 410 separate burns [Schaum et al, 2010]. If we then assume 1) an oil density of 0.9 g/cm 3 and 2) 90% of the oil mass burned was released to the atmosphere [Evans et al, 2001], we calculate the mass of BC emitted as follows: Our derived BC emission factor of 36 ± 14 g-C/kg-fuel therefore suggests that surface oil burning introduced (1.35 ± 0.72) × 10 6 kg of BC to the atmosphere during the 9-week period of active burning.…”

Versatile fabrication of magnetic superhydrophobic foams and application for oil–water separation

“…With increasing industrial development, frequent oil spills and other accidental pollution have caused severe environmental and ecological damage [6][7][8]. Therefore, much attention was paid on developing facile methods for fast and selective removal of oils from water surface.…”

Facile preparation and characterization of modified magnetic silica nanocomposite particles for oil absorption

“…In recent years, petroleum and its products play an important role in the daily life of human beings [1][2][3]. However, there is a great security risk for accidental oil spills which are extremely hazardous to water during the processes of crude oil extraction, storage and uses [4][5][6].…”