The Effectiveness Testing of Oil Spill-Treating Agents

Fingas, Mervin F.; Kyle, DA; Laroche, Nanci; Fieldhouse, Ben; Sergy, Gary A.; Stoodley, G

doi:10.1520/stp15396s

Cited by 13 publications

(7 citation statements)

References 3 publications

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“…Solidifiers have not been used extensively in the past because of theissue of recovery after solidification large amount is required (16-200% by weight of oil mass) and they have a relatively lower efficiency than dispersants (Fingas et al, 1995).…”

Section: Chemical Remediation Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Remediation Technologies for Marine Oil Spills: A Critical Review and Comparative Analysis

Dave¹

2011

American Journal of Environmental Sciences

192

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Problem statement: Anthropogenic activities pollute the oceans with oil through land run off, vessels accidents, periodic tanker discharges and bilge discharges. Oil spills are environmental disasters that impact human, plants and wild life including birds, fish and mammals. Approach: In this study, the International Guidelines for Preventing Oils Spills and Response to Disasters were reviewed and the characteristics of oil spills were discussed. The advantages and disadvantages of various oil spill response methods were evaluated. A comparative analysis were performed on the currently available remediation technologies using 10 evaluation criteria that included cost, efficiency, time, impact on wild life, reliability, level of difficulty, oil recovery, weather, effect on physical/chemical characteristics of oil and the need for further treatment. The advantages and disadvantages of each response method were used to determine the score assigned to that method. Results: There are many government regualtions for individual countries that serve as prevention mesures for oil spills in the offshore environment. They have to do with the design of equipment and machinery used in the offshore environment and performing the necessary safety inspections. The primary objectives of response to oil spill are: to prevent the spill from moving onto shore, reduce the impact on marine life and speed the degradation of any unrecovered oil. There are several physical, chemical, thermal and biological remediation technologies for oil spills including booms, skimmers, sorbents, dispersants, insitu burning and bioremediation. Each technique has its advantages and disadvantages and the choice of a particular technique will depend on: type of oil, physical, biological and economical characteristics of the spill, location, weather and sea conditions, amount spilled and rate of spillage, depth of water column, time of the year and effectiveness of technique. Coclusion: Based on the comparative analysis, oil recovery with mechanical methods and the application of dispersants followed by bioremediation is the most effective response for marine oil spill.

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Section: Chemical Remediation Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Remediation Technologies for Marine Oil Spills: A Critical Review and Comparative Analysis

Dave¹

2011

American Journal of Environmental Sciences

192

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“…Solidification can be enhanced by using the solidifiers in the seas because mixing energy is provided by the seawater. Solidifiers are difficult to recover after solidification, and it is less efficient, which are the major drawbacks for the use of the solidifiers [82,84].…”

Section: Solidifiersmentioning

confidence: 99%

Source and Control of Hydrocarbon Pollution

Srivastava¹,

Srivastava²,

Yadav³

et al. 2019

Hydrocarbon Pollution and Its Effect on the Environment

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Hydrocarbon contamination is of great worry because of their widespread effect on all forms of life. Pollution caused by increasing the use of crude oil is ordinary because of its extensive application and its related transport and dumping problems. Crude oil contains a complex mixture of aliphatic, aromatic, and heterocyclic compounds. Soil naturally consists of heavy metals, and due to human action like refining of oil and use of pesticides, their concentration in soil is rising. Several areas have such high heavy metal and metalloid concentration that surrounding natural ecosystem has been badly affected. The reason is that heavy metals and metalloids limit microbe's activity rendering it unsuitable for hydrocarbon degradation, thus reducing its effectiveness. Environmental remediation is thus extremely necessary and involves with the elimination of pollutants from soil, air, and water. In the last several decades, different methods have been employed and applied for the cleanup of our environment which includes mechanical, chemical, and biochemical remediation methods. The hydrocarbon pollution consists of many aspects like oil spills, fossil fuels, organic pollutants like aromatics, etc. that are discussed below.

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“…They found that a variety of oil degrading populations existed in the subsea plume and that the microbial communities rapidly adapted to and consumed the dispersed oil. Environment Canada found that a common dish soap was 25 times more toxic to rainbow trout than a common dispersant (Fingas et al, 1995). Toxicity Modern dispersant formulations are composed of low toxicity, biodegradable surfactants (CDC, 2010a;NRC, 2005) dissolved in nonaromatic hydrocarbon or water-miscible solvents.…”

Section: Environmental Aspects Biodegradationmentioning

confidence: 99%

The Value of Dispersants for Offshore Oil Spill Response

2012

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Oil spill response strategies are designed to minimize environmental impacts tothe extent possible. Each response option must be evaluated for operationallimitations (e.g., sea state), potential effectiveness, environmental impactsof the response option itself, and applicability under various oil spillscenarios (e.g., size and location of the spill) in addition to health andsafety of the responders. Although mechanical recovery is often favored for its ability to directlyremove oil from the environment, it has long been recognized that for largeoffshore spills this technology has significant limitations. In addition toknown operational limits in the presence of currents and waves, thedynamic-nature of offshore oil slicks, i.e., rapid spreading and movement, hasresulted in mechanical recovery only treating a small fraction of spilled oilin the past. Because of these limitations, the oil and gas industry has workedto develop alternative response tools that can be used in addition tomechanical recovery to more effectively treat large offshore oil spills. This paper provides a review of the primary oil spill response options, adetailed discussion that addresses misperceptions and misunderstandings aboutdispersants and their use, and a description of dispersant use during theDeepwater Horizon incident including the important health and safety aspects ofsubsea dispersant injection. The information provided will support the use ofdispersants as a primary response tool for large offshore oil spills when thegoal is to minimize environmental harm. Introduction The primary goal of any oil spill response operation should be to minimizeenvironmental harm. Although one expectation may be the complete physicalcontainment and removal of oil from the environment, this is often not possible(especially with large offshore spills) due to physical limitations ofmechanical recovery systems. In fact, recovery operations during previousoffshore spills only collected a small fraction of the spilled oil even underideal conditions (ITOPF Handbook, 2010). The Deepwater Horizon incident was noexception, with estimates indicating that only 3% of the oil was mechanicallyrecovered (NOAA Oil Budget, 2010). Relying solely on mechanical responsemeasures for large offshore spills may, therefore, result in less effectiveprotection of the environment. Recognition of the significant limitations of mechanical recovery has led todevelopment of alternative response tools—one of which is oil spilldispersants. Oil spill dispersants facilitate removal of oil from theenvironment by enhancing the natural biodegradation process. Dispersantsrapidly break up a surface slick into micron-sized droplets that move into thewater column. This provides naturally occurring oil degrading bacteria greateraccess to the oil by creating a dilute mixture of oil-in-water rather than athick surface accumulation. Fortunately, oil degrading bacteria are present inall marine environments, having evolved to degrade oil released by naturalseeps (Margesin and Schinner, 2001; Prince and Clark, 2004). Dispersed oil rapidly dilutes (French McCay and Payne, 2001; French McCay etal., 2006; McAuliffe et al., 1980; Cormack and Nichols, 1977; Daling andIndrebo, 1996), and concentrations above known toxicity thresholds do notpersist for more than a few hours after effective dispersant application. Thusthe potential for acute impacts to the environment from dispersed oil islimited in duration and space. In contrast, a surface slick has the potentialto impact marine mammals and birds for many days and strand on sensitiveshorelines. The most sensitive areas in many marine environments are marinemarshes and swamps. These areas can take years to decades to recover (Sell etal., 1993) once impacted by surface slicks.

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The Effectiveness Testing of Oil Spill-Treating Agents

Cited by 13 publications

References 3 publications

Remediation Technologies for Marine Oil Spills: A Critical Review and Comparative Analysis

Remediation Technologies for Marine Oil Spills: A Critical Review and Comparative Analysis

Source and Control of Hydrocarbon Pollution

The Value of Dispersants for Offshore Oil Spill Response

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