Remediation Technologies for Marine Oil Spills: A Critical Review and Comparative Analysis

Dave Dave

doi:10.3844/ajessp.2011.423.440

Abstract

Problem statement: Anthropogenic activities pollute the oceans with oil through land run off, vessels accidents, periodic tanker discharges and bilge discharges. Oil spills are environmental disasters that impact human, plants and wild life including birds, fish and mammals. Approach: In this study, the International Guidelines for Preventing Oils Spills and Response to Disasters were reviewed and the characteristics of oil spills were discussed. The advantages and disadvantages of various oil spill response methods were evaluated. A comparative analysis were performed on the currently available remediation technologies using 10 evaluation criteria that included cost, efficiency, time, impact on wild life, reliability, level of difficulty, oil recovery, weather, effect on physical/chemical characteristics of oil and the need for further treatment. The advantages and disadvantages of each response method were used to determine the score assigned to that method. Results: There are many government regualtions for individual countries that serve as prevention mesures for oil spills in the offshore environment. They have to do with the design of equipment and machinery used in the offshore environment and performing the necessary safety inspections. The primary objectives of response to oil spill are: to prevent the spill from moving onto shore, reduce the impact on marine life and speed the degradation of any unrecovered oil. There are several physical, chemical, thermal and biological remediation technologies for oil spills including booms, skimmers, sorbents, dispersants, in-situ burning and bioremediation. Each technique has its advantages and disadvantages and the choice of a particular technique will depend on: type of oil, physical, biological and economical characteristics of the spill, location, weather and sea conditions, amount spilled and rate of spillage, depth of water column, time of the year and effectiveness of technique. Coclusion: Based on the comparative analysis, oil recovery with mechanical methods and the application of dispersants followed by bioremediation is the most effective response for marine oil spill.

Highlights

Marine oil pollution results from land runoff, vessels and pipelines accidents, offshore petroleum exploration and production operations, shipping activities and illegal bilge water discharges (Lucas and Macgregor, 2006)
Fence booms: They are floating fence-like structures made of rigid or semi-rigid materials and provide a vertical screen against floating oil as 60% of the boom remain under the water and 40% remain above the surface of water
The oil slick had covered 161 square km (100 square miles) and was continuing to spread. It was a period of treatment, low tolerance capacity of microbes significant ecological disaster as the southern shore of to higher concentrations, the dependency on environmental factors, the biodegradability of limited petroleum hydrocarbons and the heterogeneity of marine oil spill makes it difficult to evaluate the efficiency of bioremediation (Swannell et al, 1996)

Summary

INTRODUCTION

Marine oil pollution results from land runoff, vessels and pipelines accidents, offshore petroleum exploration and production operations, shipping activities and illegal bilge water discharges (Lucas and Macgregor, 2006). The oil slick had covered 161 square km (100 square miles) and was continuing to spread It was a period of treatment, low tolerance capacity of microbes significant ecological disaster as the southern shore of to higher concentrations, the dependency on environmental factors, the biodegradability of limited petroleum hydrocarbons and the heterogeneity of marine oil spill makes it difficult to evaluate the efficiency of bioremediation (Swannell et al, 1996). Mechanical cleaning oil were applied shortly after the incident which included methods were only conducted and between 55,000 and cold-and warm-water washing, steam cleaning, manual oil recovery operation and bioremediation the washing and excavation of contaminated coastal rocks was concluded to be damaging to theenvironment and the use of chemical dispersants like Corexit EC 9580 No oil recovery Fear of flashback and secondary fires Emit many petroleum related compound to air environment Selected oil Threaten for marine life, human and surrounding resources Burn residue is more viscous than original product Advisable to open water area or area covered with snow or ice

Physical methods

Findings

CONCLUSION