Leaking Tank Experiments for Heavy Oils

Abstract

ABSTRACT During oil spill incidents involving damaged tankers, the amount of product released may be uncertain. Many accidents occur under adverse conditions, so determining the volume lost by sounding the tanks may not be practical. In the first few hours, initial volume estimates often are based on visual observations of the resulting slick, a notoriously unreliable approach. Oils that have special characteristics, such as group V oils and Orimulsion®, that may or may not result in a surface slick, further complicate this problem. The Hazardous Materials Response Division of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA/HAZMAT) has developed a leaking tank module for its oil weathering software, ADIOS2. Because the present version of the model is not designed for heavy oils, NOAA/HAZMAT is undertaking a series of model-scale tests using releases of canola oil and Orimulsion®. These tests are an extension of leaking tank experiments done earlier for NOAA and for the U. S. Coast Guard, and are part of a joint research program by NOAA/HAZMAT and the U.S. Coast Guard Research and Development Center on the behavior of heavy oil products. This paper describes these tests and their possible application to new spill release models.