Gellants for Control of Petroleum Spills on Water

Abstract

By adding appropriate amounts of a gelling agent, Hercules Inc.'s Amine D (mixture of long-chain aliphatic amines) mixed with 15% ethanol and 15% benzyl alcohol, and small amounts of solid carbon dioxide, liquid hydrocarbon materials spilled on water in laboratory experiments simulating small offshore petroleum spills were converted into gels which could be removed by skimming. The strengths of the gels formed at 25/sup 0/C in fresh water, which were hydrocarbon-specific at low gelling agent/hydrocarbon volume ratios (X), rapidly increased with increasing x but tended to approach the same maximum value at X 0.15:1-0.20:1 with all materials tested, except for pentane, which formed only weak gels. The gel strengths descreased with increasing temperature (10-40/sup 0/C) and were lower in salt water, especially at low X. The optimum concentrations (X) of gelling agent at 25/sup 0/C were 0.1:1 for Avgas 145, 0.1:1-0.12:1 for cyclohexane, 0.12:1 (in fresh water) or 0.18:1 (in salt water) for No. 2 fuel oil, 0.12:1 for isooctane, and 0.18:1 for pentane.