Oil Spill Response and Cleanup Methods

Abstract

In this chapter the response and cleanup methods after an oil spill occurs are presented. At first, the fate of an oil spill through natural processes such as evaporation, spreading, emulsification, oxidation, and biodegradation is reviewed. These are perhaps the most important processes that an oil spill may go through without taking any action or the use of any equipment. However, the rate of oil removal by natural processes very much depends on the type of oil as well as weather conditions. For this reason, for cases in which natural processes are so slow, the use of equipment and appropriate methods is necessary. These methods include the use of booms, absorbent booms, in-situ burning, use of dispersants, skimming, and some other methods such as mechanical removal, shoveling, removal by vacuum, etc. For the case of the BP oil spill, some 800,000 barrels of oil were removed through skimming; more than 100 aircraft and about 12.7 million feet of boom and some 25,000 people were involved in the cleanup operations. The chapter also explains the conditions in which each method is suitable for a response to a particular oil spill accident as well as the characteristics of each method and equipment needed for each scenario and condition.