scholarly journals A 3-YEAR BASELINE SAMPLING AND ANALYSIS STUDY OF PETROLEUM POLLUTANTS IN COASTAL LOUISIANA

2001 ◽  
Vol 2001 (2) ◽  
pp. 851-856 ◽  
Author(s):  
David Gisclair ◽  
Debra McMillin

ABSTRACT The Louisiana Oil Spill Coordinator's Office (LOSCO) has conducted a 3-year study of baseline petroleum pollutant levels in South Louisiana. The project collected a total of 3,540 composite sediment samples from 1,180 sites. Each site was sampled three times, once a year from 1997 through 1999. Samples were collected within four zones; each zone was assigned to a different contractor. The zones were located primarily along the Louisiana coast, with additional sampling points along the Mississippi River, Atchafalaya Navigation Channel, Red River, and Ouachita-Black River. LOSCO emphasized areas at high risk of sustaining oil spills. The project required a 10 parts-per-billion detection limit for 65 analytes, including parent and alkylated polynuclear aromatic hyrdrocarbons (PAHs), saturated hydrocarbons (up to 35 carbon units), pristane, phytane, hopanes, and steranes. The targeted analytes provide a sample profile that can be used to both classify contaminant sources (crude, heavy fuel oil, combustion sources, etc.) and identify crude oil sources. To standardize analytical results between contract laboratories and to ensure data quality, LOSCO funded development of an analytical standard operating procedure (SOP). The SOP describes a tumbling method of sample extraction and gas Chromatograph mass spectrometer (GC-MS) selected ion mode (SIM) analysis. This method is similar to procedures used to assess the environmental impacts of the Exxon Valdez oil spill, as well as other spills. SOP appendices describe identification and standardization procedures for quantifying alkylated PAH. Extraction and quantitative analysis of a reference-contaminated sediment supplied by LOSCO was required for every 30 samples. The review process included: (1) a review of electronic spreadsheets to pinpoint incorrect or invalid results, and (2) an examination of hardcopy laboratory documents and electronic data files to determine if the analysis and data processing were performed correctly. Baseline Sampling and Analysis Monitor Point Locations data sets1, in Geographic NAD83 (LOSCO, 1999a) for each of the sampling years, have been compiled in a geographical information system (GIS) format. Analytical results will be provided via the Internet or CD-ROM. The linking of field and analytical results allows examination and spatial analysis of study results.

2014 ◽  
Vol 2014 (1) ◽  
pp. 1647-1658 ◽  
Author(s):  
Tim Wadsworth

ABSTRACT Experience has shown that the most time-consuming and costly component of a response to an oil spill is often the treatment or disposal of collected waste. The amount of waste generated is dependent on many factors, some which may be controlled more readily during the response. This paper analyses a number of important incidents as a result of which spilled oil affected shoreline resources with significant resultant clean-up effort. Spills of crude oil and of heavy fuel oil carried as cargo in tankers are reviewed to determine the types and volumes of waste generated and the clean-up methods undertaken to generate that waste. A comparison of the incidents will allow the most effective response methods to be determined, to show the techniques that generated the least volumes of waste. Data from DEEPWATER HORIZON is included to allow a discussion of the associated response. To achieve a practical comparison, the amount of waste is balanced against the amount of oil spilled to determine the oil:waste ratio. This ratio has evolved over many years into a long held guideline, used often for the purpose of contingency planning, that the amount of waste generated during an incident is approximately ten times the amount of oil spilled. This paper shows that with appropriate response actions, the guideline can be upheld.


2001 ◽  
Vol 2001 (1) ◽  
pp. 263-266
Author(s):  
Jean R. Cameron

ABSTRACT An issue of increasing concern worldwide is that of oil spills from nontank vessels that carry large quantities of petroleum product as fuel or lubricants. The New Carissa incident in Oregon in 1999 is only one of several that have impacted the U.S. West Coast in the last few years. Others include the M/V Kuroshima, which grounded in Dutch Harbor, Alaska in 1997, and the M/V Kure, which spilled oil in Humbolt Bay also in 1997. The Tenyo Maru was cut in half in a collision and sank with the loss of one life and a spill of at least 100,000 gallons of heavy fuel oil and diesel in Washington State in 1991. Additional examples of both spills and threats of spills are sited, both in the United States and worldwide. This paper examines a number of actions that have been taken in response to this threat. One such model is the Canadian requirement that vessel owner/operators demonstrate a formal agreement with an approved response contractor, and list that contractor in their Shipboard Oil Pollution Emergency Plan (SOPEP). A more comprehensive approach would be to establish approved “umbrella” contingency plans for major port areas, supported by contracts with oil spill removal organizations (OSROs). This preferred model has been adopted by the U.S. West Coast states, and affords the opportunity for the contracted responders to drill with emergency response officials, thus improving the likelihood of an efficient, coordinated spill response. This paper also proposes spill prevention design elements for nontank vessels.


2008 ◽  
Vol 2008 (1) ◽  
pp. 541-544
Author(s):  
Heidi Dunagan ◽  
Jacqueline Michel ◽  
Bradford Benggio

ABSTRACT The July 2006 spill of heavy fuel oil into the Savannah River, in Savannah, Georgia, presented two common issues facing responders: the source and amount spilled were unknown and the oil contaminated extensive areas of fringing marshes. The initial spill volume was estimated to be 5,000 gallons. Shoreline assessment teams mapped the length, width, height, and percent cover of the oil bands on the vegetation, determining that approximately 7.25 miles were very lightly oiled, 5.0 miles were lightly oiled, 6.3 miles were moderately oiled, and 2.0 miles were heavily oiled. These data were used to estimate that there were 22,000 gallons of oil (with a range of 17,220–28,700 gallons) on the vegetation, indicating that the original estimate of 5,000 gallons was too low. This poster will briefly discuss the history of oil spills on the Savannah River as well as summarize the methods used to estimate spill volume during the 2006 oil spill.


2018 ◽  
Vol 7 (3.14) ◽  
pp. 98 ◽  
Author(s):  
Azimah Ismail ◽  
Saiful Bahri Mohamed ◽  
Hafizan Juahir ◽  
Mohd Ekhwan Toriman ◽  
Azlina Md. Kassim ◽  
...  

This research focuses on the use of the DMAIC method (Define, Measure, Analyze, Improve and Control) as a Six Sigma approach in studying oil spill fingerprint of samples recovered from Peninsular Malaysia and Sabah (East Malaysia). The DMAIC approach in this study was used as a way to classify oil types based on data obtained from GC-FID and GC-MS measurements. The cause-effect diagram was used to define the factors leading to the failure of the oil spill fingerprinting based on inaccurate oil type clustering. Discriminant Analysis (DA) was also applied to quantify the root-cause of the failure. An Ishikawa diagram obtained in the analysis phase identifies the potential failure causal. Principal component analysis (PCA) was applied and was successful in discriminating four clusters of oil types, namely diesel, heavy fuel oil (HFO), mixture oil lube and fuel oil (MOLFO) and waste oil (WO) with a total variance of 85.3%. In the control phase, the use of a Pareto chart indicated 100% cumulative percentage of oil type clustering with a 95% confidence level. The DMAIC approach to be effective in solving oil spill fingerprinting problems and results in quality improvement in the clustering of oil spills into the different hydrocarbon types.  


2005 ◽  
Vol 2005 (1) ◽  
pp. 281-283
Author(s):  
Cassandra Richardson

ABSTRACT A fundamental problem exists with waste disposal in marine-based oil spill clean up, as up to ten times more waste can be generated than the actual oil spilled. Lessons learnt are rarely recognised until the clean up operation has finished and oiled waste has accumulated. In 1999 the oil tanker Erika broke in two and sank off the coast of Brittany, France. Spilling 20,000 tonnes of Heavy Fuel Oil but creating 250,000 tonnes of oiled waste. The Author, during the Prestige spill has observed first hand how the handling and disposal of oily waste can have major implications for oil clean up operations. It can hinder the entire operation by causing bottlenecks and delays in further recovery of oil, unless suitable arrangements can be made. The promotion of a holistic approach to waste management is fundamental to effective oil recovery operations and should be incorporated into oil spill contingency plans. The paper will highlight the importance of developing a proactive waste management strategy, emphasising good practice and the key issues involved. The paper is supported by existing reports, the author's practical experience and a published document, co-authored, on current waste disposal options for IPIECA's technical document series.


Author(s):  
Ronan Jézéquel ◽  
Julien Guyomarch ◽  
Justine Receveur ◽  
Stéphane Le Floch

On 16 March 1978, the oil tanker the Amoco Cadiz, transporting 223,000 tons of crude oil and 4,000 tons of bunker fuel oil, suffered a failure of her steering mechanism and ran aground on Portsall Rocks, on the Breton coast. The entire cargo spilled out as the breakers split the vessel in two, progressively polluting 360 km of French shoreline from Brest to Saint Brieuc. This was the largest oil spill caused by a tanker grounding ever recorded in the world. The consequences of this accident were significant, and it caused the French Government to revise its oil response plan (the Polmar Plan), to acquire equipment stocks (Polmar stockpiles), to impose traffic lanes in the Channel and to create Cedre. On 12 December 1999, the tanker Erika broke up and sank off the coast of Brittany (France) leading to the spill of 20,000 tons of a heavy fuel oil. 400 km of the French Atlantic coastline were polluted. Because of the characteristics of the oil (a very heavy fuel oil with a high content of light cracking oil) and the severe weather conditions (a centennial storm with spring tides) when the oil came on shore, the Erika spill was one of the most severe accidental releases of oil along the French coastlines. All types of habitat were concerned, and pollution reached the supratidal zone affecting terrestrial vegetation and lichens. In 2019, respectively 41 years and 20 years after these major oil spills affecting the French shoreline, a sampling round was conducted at two sites recorded to present some residual traces of oil. Samples of weathered oil were collected, extracted with methylene chloride and then purified through an alumina-silica microcolumn. SARA fractionation and GC-MS analyses were performed in order to assess respectively the total degradation of the weathered oil (amount of saturates, aromatics and polar fraction) and the specific degradation of nalkanes from n-C9 to n-C40, biomarkers (such as terpanes, hopanes and steranes) and PAHs (parents and alkylated derivatives).


Author(s):  
Peter Foxton ◽  
Martin Heubeck

SynopsisA brief description is given of the accident to the tanker Esso Bernicia that resulted in the release of 1174 tonnes of heavy fuel oil into the harbour at Sullom Voe. The measures taken to deal with the spill and the resulting oil pollution are described and their effectiveness assessed. Aspects of the environmental effects are considered with particular reference to birds, otters and sheep. Wide-ranging inquiries were made into the cause of the incident, the adequacy of the response, and the effects of the pollution. The actions that resulted are described. Finally the significance of the event is considered in relation to the subsequent development of oil spill contingency planning at Sullom Voe, and in the wider context of Shetland.


Author(s):  
Melanie Gorman Ng ◽  
John W Cherrie ◽  
Anne Sleeuwenhoek ◽  
Mark Stenzel ◽  
Richard K Kwok ◽  
...  

Abstract Tens of thousands of individuals performed oil spill response and clean-up (OSRC) activities following the ‘Deepwater Horizon’ oil drilling rig explosion in 2010. Many were exposed to oil residues and dispersants. The US National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences assembled a cohort of nearly 33 000 workers to investigate potential adverse health effects of oil spill exposures. Estimates of dermal and inhalation exposure are required for those individuals. Ambient breathing-zone measurements taken at the time of the spill were used to estimate inhalation exposures for participants in the GuLF STUDY (Gulf Long-term Follow-up Study), but no dermal measurements were collected. Consequently, a modelling approach was used to estimate dermal exposures. We sought to modify DREAM (DeRmal Exposure Assessment Method) to optimize the model for assessing exposure to various oil spill-related substances and to incorporate advances in dermal exposure research. Each DREAM parameter was reviewed in the context of literature published since 2000 and modified where appropriate. To reflect the environment in which the OSRC work took place, the model treatment of evaporation was expanded to include vapour pressure and wind speed, and the effect of seawater on exposure was added. The modified model is called GuLF DREAM and exposure is estimated in GuLF DREAM units (GDU). An external validation to assess the performance of the model for oils, tars, and fuels was conducted using available published dermal wipe measurements of heavy fuel oil (HFO) and dermal hand wash measurements of asphalt. Overall, measured exposures had moderate correlations with GDU estimates (r = 0.59) with specific correlations of −0.48 for HFO and 0.68 for asphalt. The GuLF DREAM model described in this article has been used to generate dermal exposure estimates for the GuLF STUDY. Many of the updates made were generic, so the updated model may be useful for other dermal exposure scenarios.


1978 ◽  
Vol 35 (5) ◽  
pp. 510-520 ◽  
Author(s):  
John M. Teal ◽  
Kathryn Burns ◽  
John Farrington

We have analyzed the two- and three-ring aromatic hydrocarbons from the Wild Harbor oil spill in September 1969 and the Winsor Cove oil spill in October 1974, in intertidal marsh sediments, using glass capillary gas-chromatographic and mass-fragmentographic analyses. Naphthalenes with 0–3 alkyl substitutions and phenanthrenes with 0–2 substitutions decreased in concentration with time in surface sediments. The more substituted aromatics decreased relatively less and in some cases actually increased in absolute concentration. The changes in composition of the aromatic fraction have potential consequences for the ecosystem and provide insight into geochemical processes of oil weathering. Key words: oil pollution, aromatic hydrocarbons; gas chromatography; gas chromatography–mass spectrometry; geochemistry; marsh; sediments; oil spills


2008 ◽  
Vol 2008 (1) ◽  
pp. 327-330 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mohamed Elsarji

ABSTRACT The oil spill in Lebanon in August 2006 resulted in 15000 tons of heavy fuel oil covering more than 160 kilometers of beaches and sea floor of Lebanon. Bahr Loubnan is a Lebanese NGO who volunteered to undertake the clean-up work as a gift to the Lebanese people. Bahr Loubnan experts made a full assessment of the situation; divers explored the sea floor and located all patches of fuel that sank, as another team toured and assessed every affected beach. As a result, a detailed plan was prepared and submitted to the Lebanese government who gave its approval on Sept. 7th 2006. The clean-up crew cleaned any sunken oil found on the bottom of the sea and on two thirds of the affected beaches. The cost of the whole operation, including the cost of all needed equipment, protective gear, storage tanks, transportation and food, was less than half a million dollars. Local people who were hired to work in the clean-up operations were treated as partners in the project and not as “Laborers”. Fifty professional divers were assigned the job of cleaning the oil found on the sea floor. Sandy and pebbles beaches were cleaned by surf washing, which proved very successful. Powerful “Cachiers” pumping water at a pressure of 1450 bars were used to clean the oil off rocky beaches. The operation was a success. It would be impossible for anyone to distinguish between beaches that were polluted and those who were not.


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