Abstract
Abstract Aggregation between suspended sediment grains and crude-oil droplets which forms oil—mineral aggregates (OMA), is a natural process that enhances dispersion of spilled oil in aquatic environments. The objective of this study is to use a recently upgraded numerical model (MCOMA2) to investigate minimum sediment concentration (MSC) for OMA formation. MSC is defined as the concentration of sediment below which concentration of OMA-stabilized droplets is negligible (less than 1%). Formation of OMA is simulated for sediment concentration varied from 0.5 to 1000 mg/l considering Forties Blend (density of 840 kg/m 3 ) and FOREF oil (density of 965 kg/m 3 ). Results show that the MSC varies from 0.5 to 200 mg/l, depending on the size ratio (ratio between the diameter of sediment and the diameter of oil droplets) and the oil type. Its minimum values for both light and heavy oils are obtained when the size ratio is close to 0.4 and 0.55, respectively.
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