scholarly journals Dispersant effectiveness on oil spills – impact of salinity

2006 ◽  
Vol 63 (8) ◽  
pp. 1418-1430 ◽  
Author(s):  
Subhashini Chandrasekar ◽  
George A. Sorial ◽  
James W. Weaver
Keyword(s):  
Experimental Data ◽  
Crude Oil ◽  
Oil Spills ◽  
Refined Oil ◽  
Light Crude Oil ◽  
Mixing Energy ◽  
Oil Dispersant ◽  
Dispersant Effectiveness ◽  
Almost All ◽  
The Impact

Abstract When a dispersant is applied to an oil slick, its effectiveness in dispersing the spilled oil depends on factors such as oil properties, wave-mixing energy, temperature, and salinity of the water. Estuaries represent water with varying salinity, so in this study, three salinity values in the range 10–34 psu were investigated, representing potential salinity concentrations found in typical estuaries. Three oils were chosen to represent light refined oil, light crude oil, and medium crude oil. Each was tested at three weathering levels to represent maximum, medium, and zero weathering. Two dispersants were chosen for evaluation. A modified trypsinizing flask termed a baffled flask was used to conduct the experimental runs. A full factorial experiment was conducted for each oil. The interactions between the effects of salinity and three environmental factors, temperature, oil weathering, and mixing energy, on dispersion effectiveness were investigated. Each experiment was replicated four times in order to evaluate the accuracy of the test. Statistical analyses of the experimental data were performed for each of the three oils independently for each dispersant treatment (two dispersants and oil controls). A linear regression model representing the main factors (salinity, temperature, oil weathering, flask speed) and second-order interactions among the factors was fitted to the experimental data. Salinity played an important role in determining the significance of temperature and mixing energy on dispersant effectiveness for almost all the oil–dispersant combinations. The impact of salinity at different weathering was only significant for light crude oil with dispersant A.

DISPERSANT EFFECTIVENESS ON OIL SPILLS – EMPIRICAL CORRELATIONS

2008 ◽  
Vol 2008 (1) ◽  
pp. 801-804
Author(s):  
Kavitha R. Nagarajan ◽  
Niranjan Deshpande ◽  
George A. Sorial ◽  
James W. Weaver
Keyword(s):  
Experimental Data ◽  
Crude Oil ◽  
Oil Spills ◽  
Refined Oil ◽  
Mixing Energy ◽  
Oil Slick ◽  
Different Temperatures ◽  
Dispersant Effectiveness ◽  
The Impact ◽  
Full Factorial

ABSTRACT When a dispersant is applied to an oil slick, its effectiveness in dispersing the spilled oil depends on various factors such as oil properties, wave mixing energy, temperature of both oil and water, and salinity of the water. Estuaries represent water with varying salinities. In this study three salinity values in the range of 10–34 ppt were investigated, representing potential salinities found in typical estuaries. Three oils were chosen to represent light refined oil, light crude oil and medium crude oil. Each oil was tested at three weathering levels to represent maximum, medium and zero weathering. Two dispersants were chosen for evaluation. A modified trypsinizing flask termed the ‘Baffled Flask’ was used for conducting the experimental runs. A full factorial experiment was conducted for each oil to investigate the effect of salinity (3 levels), temperature (6 levels), oil weathering (3 levels) and mixing energy (150, 200, and 250 rpm) on dispersant effectiveness. Each experiment was replicated four times in order to evaluate the accuracy of the test. Statistical analyses of the experimental data were performed separately for each of the three oils three times (with or without dispersant). Viscosity of the three oils at the different temperatures and weathering conditions were determined. An empirical correlation of the viscosity for each of the three oils was then obtained. A linear regression model incorporating the viscosity correlations to represent temperature and weathering, the other remaining main factors (salinity and flask speed) and second order interactions among the factors was developed and was found to accurately represent the experimental data. The empirical approach to the interaction between the dispersant and oil slick developed could provide a useful or practical approach for including dispersants in a model to assess the impact of dispersant usage on oil spills.

scholarly journals Polish energy security in the oil sector

2019 ◽  
Vol 108 ◽  
pp. 02015 ◽  
Author(s):  
Tadeusz Olkuski ◽  
Adam Szurlej ◽  
Barbara Tora ◽  
Miłosz Karpiński
Keyword(s):  
Crude Oil ◽  
Energy Security ◽  
Point Of View ◽  
Factors Affecting ◽  
Oil Reserves ◽  
Oil Resources ◽  
Oil Sector ◽  
The Baltic ◽  
Almost All ◽  
The Impact

Almost all crude oil used in Poland is imported. The domestic production meets less than 4% of needs; therefore, to ensure the security of supplies, Poland relies heavily on imports. It is worth mentioning, however, that Poland has crude oil resources oil fields are located in the Carpathians, Polish Lowlands, and in the economic zone of the Baltic Sea. For years, crude oil is imported mainly from the East, however, a significant change in this approach, leading to an increase in seaborne oil supplies, has been observed in recent years. In 2017, 77.3% of crude oil was imported from Russia, while the rest was supplied from Saudi Arabia, Iraq, Iran, Norway, and Kazakhstan. Increasing the diversification of supplies is, of course, a very positive phenomenon, because it allows reducing the dependence on one supplier, which is beneficial from the point of view of energy security. Taking into account a high dependence on oil imports, the article also discusses important factors affecting the global oil market: low investment in the upstream sector, a drastic decline in oil production in Venezuela, the impact of the U.S. embargo on Iran, or depleting oil reserves.

Burning of Oil Spills

1991 ◽  
Vol 1991 (1) ◽  
pp. 677-680 ◽  
Author(s):  
D.D. Evans ◽  
G.W. Mulholland ◽  
J.R. Lawson ◽  
E.J. Tennyson ◽  
M.F. Fingas ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Crude Oil ◽  
Oil Spill ◽  
Technical Assistance ◽  
Oil Spills ◽  
Research Effort ◽  
Heat Radiation ◽  
Small Scale ◽  
Management Service ◽  
Environment Canada ◽  
The Impact

ABSTRACT The Center for Fire Research (CFR) at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) is conducting research related to safety in offshore drilling and oil spill pollution under joint funding from Minerals Management Service (MMS), U.S. Coast Guard, and the American Petroleum Institute. Technical assistance in measurement has been donated by Environment Canada. This research has focused on examining the phenomena associated with crude oil combustion and the impact of using burning as a spill response method. The process of burning crude oil on water as a means to mitigate oil spills has been investigated with a research effort combining both small-scale experiments and calculations. As a result of these studies, there has been increased understanding of the burning process, including burning rate, heat radiation, smoke emission, smoke composition, and smoke dispersion in the atmosphere. A key to gaining acceptance of burning as a spill response technique is the demonstration that favorable results obtained at laboratory scale can be shown to continue in test burns representing the size of fires expected in actual operations. Field-scale burn tests are being planned and coordinated jointly by MMS, API, USCG, and Environment Canada to document the use of burning technology under conditions simulating actual oil spill cleanup operations. The purpose of this project is to measure the effects of oil spill burning in laboratory and field tests.

Acute toxicity to the crab Paragrapsus quadridentatus (H. Milne Edwards), of Kuwait light crude oil, BP/AP dispersant, and an oil-dispersant mixture

1982 ◽  
Vol 33 (3) ◽  
pp. 459 ◽  
Author(s):  
M Ahsanullah ◽  
RRC Edwards ◽  
DG Kay ◽  
DS Negilski
Keyword(s):  
Acute Toxicity ◽  
Crude Oil ◽  
Fold Increase ◽  
Light Crude Oil ◽  
Oil Dispersant ◽  
Lc50 Value

The acute toxicity to P. quadridentatus, of Kuwait light crude oil, BP/AR dispersant and an oil-dispersant mixture was determined. Observed 96-h LC50 values averaged 1555 mg 1-1 for oil added to water. A statistically valid 96-h LC50 value for the dispersant was not obtained, but results indicated that a solution containing between 1300 and 2200 mg I-1 might be expected to produce 50% mortality. A mixture of oil and dispersant in the ratio 4 : 1 gave an observed 96-h LC50 value of 96 mg 1-1, a 16-fold increase in toxicity over oil alone. The implications of the results are discussed.

OIL SPILL TREATMENT STRATEGY MODELING FOR GEORGES BANK

1979 ◽  
Vol 1979 (1) ◽  
pp. 685-692
Author(s):  
Peter C. Cornillon ◽  
Malcolm L. Spaulding ◽  
Kurt Hansen
Keyword(s):  
Water Column ◽  
Oil Spill ◽  
Oil Spills ◽  
Georges Bank ◽  
Particle In Cell ◽  
Oil Dispersant ◽  
Oil Concentration ◽  
Spill Control ◽  
The Impact ◽  
Spilled Oil

ABSTRACT As part of a larger project assessing the environmental impact of treated versus untreated oil spills, a fates model has been developed which tracks both the surface and subsurface oil. The approach used to spread, drift, and evaporate the surface slick is similar to that in most other oil spill models. The subsurface technique, however, makes use of a modified particle-in-cell method which diffuses and advects individual oil/dispersant droplets representative of a large number of similar droplets. This scheme predicts the time-dependent oil concentration distribution in the water column, which can then be employed as input to a fisheries population model. In addition to determining the fate of the untreated spill, the model also allows for chemical treatment and/or mechanical cleanup of the spilled oil. With this capability, the effectiveness of different oil spill control and removal strategies can be quantified. The model has been applied to simulate a 34,840 metric ton spill of a No. 2-type oil on Georges Bank. The concentration of oil in the water column and the surface slick trajectory are predicted as a function of time for chemically treated and untreated spills occurring in April and December. In each case, the impact on the cod fishery was determined and is described in detail in a paper by Reed and Spaulding presented at this conference.

Assessment of Natural Cleaning and Biological Colonization On Oiled Rocky Shores: In Situ Experiments

1999 ◽  
Vol 1999 (1) ◽  
pp. 1071-1074
Author(s):  
Lénaïck Menot ◽  
Claude Chassé ◽  
Loïc Kerambrun
Keyword(s):  
Crude Oil ◽  
Field Experiments ◽  
Oil Spills ◽  
Rocky Shores ◽  
Tidal Elevation ◽  
Exposed Site ◽  
Biological Communities ◽  
Light Crude Oil ◽  
In Situ Experiments ◽  
Remedial Actions

ABSTRACT When exposed rocky shores are affected by oil spills, the advised cleanup option, in most cases, is the “do nothing” This assumes that natural processes should rapidly clean up such shores and that remedial actions should have great detrimental effects in regard of ecological recovery. Few studies however deal with quantitative rates of natural cleanup on rocky shores. Therefore, CEDRE (Centre de Documentation de Recherche et d'Experimentations sur les Pollutions Accidentelles des Eaux) has conducted field experiments to determine the rate of such processes. Granite plates have been polluted with Arabian Light crude oil and Bunker C and set on exposed and sheltered sites. On an exposed site, the influence of tidal elevation has also been studied. The plates were situated in diverse biological communities; the recolonization of polluted and non polluted plates has been recorded during a 13-month survey. The results show that the Arabian Light crude oil was rapidly washed away by the tide despite low wave energy even on the most exposed site. The persistence of Bunker C was much longer and seemed to be mainly a function of fauna and flora settlement. At the beginning of the survey, all the plates at the exposed site were colonized by barnacles in equal densities whatever the nature of the oil. A second recruitment wave of barnacle colonized preferably the “crude oil plates” which in fact were clean at that time. Along the tidal gradient, non polluted lower plates were colonized by Porphyra and Fucus while the polluted ones were essentially colonized by green algae.

scholarly journals MODIFICATION OF THE DISPERSANT COREXIT®9500 FOR USE IN FRESHWATER

2001 ◽  
Vol 2001 (2) ◽  
pp. 1209-1211 ◽  
Author(s):  
Anita George-Ares ◽  
Richard R. Lessard ◽  
Gerard P. Canevari ◽  
Kenneth W. Becker ◽  
Robert J. Fiocco
Keyword(s):  
Crude Oil ◽  
River Water ◽  
Calcium Chloride ◽  
Oil Spills ◽  
Deionized Water ◽  
North Slope ◽  
Low Salinity ◽  
A Value ◽  
Oil Spill Dispersants ◽  
Dispersant Effectiveness

ABSTRACT Recent inland spills in Latin America have generated interest in dispersant use for freshwater oil spills. However, oil spill dispersants primarily are formulated for use in marine waters. Dispersants that are designed for saltwater use show reduced effectiveness when applied in freshwater. The effectiveness of COREXIT® 9500 in low salinity waters varies with the type of oil, the dispersant-to-oil ratio (DOR), and other factors. The effectiveness of COREXIT® 9500 can decrease markedly at salinities of 15 ppt or less. The authors observed an increase in effectiveness of COREXIT® 9500 in freshwater when the dispersant was blended with an inorganic, divalent salt, such as calcium chloride, prior to use (patent pending). COREXIT® 9500* refers here to the blend of the salt and dispersant. The Exxon Dispersant Effectiveness Test (EXDET) was used to evaluate dispersant performance in deionized water and in river water samples from Rio de la Plata, Argentina. COREXIT® 9500 showed 22% effectiveness on Alaska North Slope (ANS) crude oil in deionized water, a value indicative of poor effectiveness. Depending on the amount of calcium chloride added, COREXIT® 9500* showed up to 63% effectiveness on ANS crude oil in deionized water, which indicates good effectiveness. The effectiveness of COREXIT® 9500* and COREXIT® 9500 was compared for three additional crude oils both in deionized water and in river water. In all cases, the effectiveness of COREXIT® 9500 was lower compared with COREXIT® 9500*.

scholarly journals Transcriptomic effects of dispersed oil in a non-model decapod crustacean

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Hernan Vazquez-Miranda ◽  
Brent P Thoma ◽  
Juliet M Wong ◽  
Darryl L Felder ◽  
Keith A Crandall ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Gene Expression ◽  
Oil Spills ◽  
Decapod Crustacean ◽  
Rna Seq ◽  
Oil Dispersant ◽  
Dispersed Oil ◽  
Eurypanopeus Depressus ◽  
Treatment Procedures ◽  
Oil Exposure ◽  
The Impact

Background. Oil spills are major environmental disasters. Dispersants help control spills, as they emulsify oil into droplets to speed bioremediation. Although dispersant toxicity is controversial, the genetic consequences and damages of dispersed oil exposure are poorly understood. We used RNA-seq to measure gene expression of flatback mudcrabs (Eurypanopeus depressus, Decapoda, Brachyura, Panopeidae) exposed to dispersed oil. Methods. Our experimental design included two control types, oil-only, and oil-dispersant treatments with three replicates each. We prepared 100 base pair-ended libraries from total RNA and sequenced them in one Illumina HiSeq2000 lane. We assembled a reference transcriptome with all replicates per treatment, assessed quality with novel metrics, identified transcripts, and quantified gene expression with open source software. Results. Our mudcrab transcriptome included 500,008 transcripts from 347,082,962 pair-end raw reads. In oil-only treatments, we found few significant differences. However, in oil-dispersant treatments, over 4000 genes involved with cellular differentiation, primordial cellular component upkeep, apoptosis, and immune response were downregulated. A few muscle structure and development genes were upregulated. Discussion. Our results provide evidence that exposure to chemically dispersed oil causes a generalized cellular shutdown and muscular repair attempts. Our results suggest current oil-spill treatment procedures could be detrimental to crustaceans and indicate additional research is needed to evaluate the impact of oil spills in gene expression. Finally, traditional quality metrics such as N50s have limitations to explain the nature of RNA-seq compared to new methods in non-model decapod crustaceans.

Construction, Validation, and Application of Digital Oil: Investigation of Asphaltene Association Toward Asphaltene-Precipitation Prediction

SPE Journal ◽  
2018 ◽  
Vol 23 (03) ◽  
pp. 952-968 ◽  
Author(s):  
S.. Sugiyama ◽  
Y.. Liang ◽  
S.. Murata ◽  
T.. Matsuoka ◽  
M.. Morimoto ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Experimental Data ◽  
Liquid Phase ◽  
Crude Oil ◽  
Md Simulation ◽  
Heavy Fraction ◽  
Liquid Density ◽  
Asphaltene Precipitation ◽  
Viscosity Change ◽  
Light Crude Oil ◽  
Wide Range

Summary Digital oil, a realistic molecular model of crude oil for a target reservoir, opens a new door to understand properties of crude oil under a wide range of thermodynamic conditions. In this study, we constructed a digital oil to model a light crude oil using analytical experiments after separating the light crude oil into gas, light and heavy fractions, and asphaltenes. The gas and light fractions were analyzed by gas chromatography (GC), and 105 kinds of molecules, including normal alkanes, isoalkanes, naphthenes, alkylbenzenes, and polyaromatics (with a maximum of three aromatic rings), were directly identified. The heavy fraction and asphaltenes were analyzed by elemental analysis, molecular-weight (MW) measurement with gel-permeation chromatography (GPC), and hydrogen and carbon nuclear-magnetic-resonance (NMR) spectroscopy, and represented by the quantitative molecular-representation method, which provides a mixture model imitating distributions of the crude-oil sample. Because of the low weight concentration of asphaltenes in the light crude oil (approximately 0.1 wt%), the digital oil model was constructed by mixing the gas, light-, and heavy-fraction models. To confirm the validity of the digital oil, density and viscosity were calculated over a wide range of pressures at the reservoir temperature by molecular-dynamics (MD) simulations. Because only experimental data for the liquid phase were available, we predicted the liquid components of the digital oil at pressures lower than 16.3 MPa (i.e., the bubblepoint pressure) by flash calculation, and calculated the liquid density by MD simulation. The calculated densities coincided with the experimental values at all pressures in the range from 0.1 to 29.5 MPa. We calculated the viscosity of the liquid phase at the same pressures by two independent methods. The calculated viscosities were in good agreement with each other. Moreover, the viscosity change with pressure was consistent with the experimental data. As a step for application of digital oil to predict asphaltene-precipitation risk, we calculated dimerization free energy of asphaltenes (which we regarded as asphaltene self-association energy) in the digital oil at the reservoir condition, using MD simulation with the umbrella sampling method. The calculated value is consistent with reported values used in phase-equilibrium calculation. Digital oil is a powerful tool to help us understand mechanisms of molecular-scale phenomena in oil reservoirs and solve problems in the upstream and downstream petroleum industry.

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