Silicone‐based polymers as oil spill treatment agents

Abstract

A new family of oil‐treatment agents was prepared by reacting polyoxyethylenic surfactants, alkyl alcohols, or carboxylic acids with alkylchlorosilanes in light hydrocarbon solvents. The treating solutions undergo rapid hydrolysis upon contact with the water surface and the reaction products can encapsulate and solidify oil slicks and other floating hydrocarbons. The removal of the resulting silicone—oil residues from the water surface can be performed by simple netting. Residues can be treated by washing with dichloromethane, leaving inert silicone polymers to be discarded and chemically unaltered hydrocarbons to be recycled. The noteworthy advantages in favor of these new oil‐treating agents are the ease of synthesis using readily available chemicals, the very low environmental toxicity of silicones, the efficiency of the agents to solidify oil at a high oil to agent ratio, and the ease of recycling of the oil—silicone residues. Silicone treating agents could find their place in the toolbox of oil spill fighters in response to small accidental and intentional spills occurring frequently in marinas, harbors, along recreational beaches, navigation canals, industrial sites, or along highways. The practical problems to be addressed before any attempt at commercialization of these compounds are the use of highly flammable light hydrocarbons as carrier solvents, the production of corrosive HCl during the hydrolysis process, and the relatively high water content of silicone—oil residues to be recycled.

Fate of a New Silicone-Based Oil-Treating Agent and Its Effects on Marine Microbial Communities

“…Forties crude oil (specific gravity ϭ 0.839 g/ml at 10ЊC; viscosity ϭ 10 cSt at 10ЊC; kindly provided by Ultramar Refinery at St-Romuald, PQ, Canada), originating from the North Sea, was used. The silicone-based oil spill treating agent and its application technique is described in a companion paper [3]. Contamination protocol at day 0 was as follows: the first mesocosm (M1) received no oil or treating agent and served as a control; only treating agent (300 ml; 25% active ingredient) was applied on the water surface of the second mesocosm (M2); only crude oil (350 ml) was applied on the water surface of the third mesocosm (M3); and the fourth mesocosm (M4) received crude oil (350 ml) first, and then the treating agent (300 ml) was applied onto the oil slick.…”

“…However, silicone compounds have not previously been used in the treatment of oil slicks. In the proposed technique [3], the treating agent is applied over and around the oil slick. The treating compound reacts in the presence of water to form an antiadhesive silicone matrix that traps hydrocarbons and reduces the usual strong adherence of oil and oil residues to solid surfaces.…”

How Far Are We in Combating Marine Oil Spills by Using Phase‐Selective Organogelators?

“…The use of solidifiers is another method which has many advantages over other methods. [13] Solidifying materials form co-solid or thick slicks with oil, when applied over the affected area, and these slicks can easily be scooped out or burned depending on the location of the spill. A subclass of solidifiers is the cross-linking solidifiers, [14] which form cross links in oil forming a covalent polymeric network wherein the oil gets entrapped.…”

Gelatinizing oil in water and its removal via bacteria inhabiting the gels

“…Those studies provide information that may be implemented in suggesting technologies for physical removal of oil spilled in the aquatic environment. Within this context, other materials currently in use for physicochemical oil remediation are sorbents 10 , 11 , solidifiers 12 and dispersants 13 . The use of such materials is however, frequently unsafe, and /or not eco-friendly 14 .…”