Studying atmospheric exposure risks during oil spills using a localized computational model

Abstract

This paper has investigated the risk of atmospheric exposure during oil spills. Air levels of volatile components (VCs) arising from oil spills under some hypothetical scenarios have been studied using a computational model. The computational results indicate that overexposure to benzene may exist under general conditions. A table summarizing the exposure risks under various conditions is presented which may be useful in exposure risk analysis during oil spill response. The exposure to other volatile hydrocarbon components is negligible. Exposure to sulphur components occurs, but the duration is very short.