Tanker Accidents Research Articles

Modelling of possible tanker accident oil spills in the Istanbul Strait in order to demonstrate the dispersion and toxic effects of oil pollution.

Countries located on the Black Sea coast perform most of their sea trade through the Istanbul Strait (IS). Approximately 50,000 ships pass through the IS each year, with crude oil tankers making up the majority. Thus, the aim of the study is to determine the acute toxic effect of oil pollution that may occur as a result of crude oil tanker accidents in the IS. By utilising data related to accidents that have occurred in the IS, locations of concentrated tanker accidents, or "hot spots," were determined by Kernel Density Analysis. Subsequently, the distribution of potential leaks following an oil tanker accident, within these hot spots, is modelled with GNOME software. Finally, acute toxicity caused by oil pollution in the marine ecosystem is determined by Aliivibrio fischeri luminescent bacteria toxicity test. In this research, 5 hot spots are identified, where the maximum calculated amount of oil that can reach the coastline after 72h is 3096 metric tons. Similarly, oil pollution can affect a total coastline of 30-35km. Furthermore, it was determined that after the oil was diluted in seawater, at a ratio of 1:200,000, the toxic effects decrease (EC50 above 100mg/L), yet the chronic effects may still continue. The results of this study may serve as a reference for coastal state authorities to develop emergency response plans. Having this valuable knowledge of where high-risk accidents are most concentrated, where the accidents occur intensely, which areas can be affected by the pollution, the duration of the pollution effects, and the distance between the areas, will help determine the number of intervention stations to be installed, their locations, and equipment to be installed to the stations.

A highly reusable polydimethylsiloxane sorbents for oil/organic solvent clean-up from water

Frequent oil spills in recent years due to human activities including oil drilling, tanker accidents or industrialization, give rise to an urgent need for the development of sorbent materials with high sorption ability, good selectivity and reusability. In this work, PDMS based hydrophobic sorbents acting as oil removing agents were fabricated via bulk polymerization of tetraethyl orthosilicate (TEOS) and different lengths of polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS), without using any activator, initiator, catalyst or solvent. The PDMS sorbents were characterized by using FTIR, 13C and 29Si CPMAS NMR, SEM, contact angle measurements, and thermal gravimetric analysis. The results show the successful preparation of the crosslinked sorbent structure with water contact angle (WCA) of 123°, indicating its hydrophobic structure. The prepared sorbents have high swelling ability in organic liquids/oils in the range of 9–21 g g−1. They have the ability to quickly absorb the oil from the water surface and float before and after oil sorption, while the capacity of the sorbents did not change in different water types. They can be reusable for at least 10 absorption-desorption cycles without capacity change, and have stability in oils over 300 cycles, demonstrating that the obtained hydrophobic PDMS sorbents can be used as oil removing agents in the field of oil spill applications.

Determination of Maintenance Task on Tanker Vessel’s Marine Boiler Using Reliability Centered Maintenance (RCM) II Method

There are several types of tanker accidents: collision, fire, grounding etc. In fire accident, the major causes of ship accidents are explosions on marine boilers and damage to ship components. In addition to operational factors, maintenance factors are also the major cause of the accident. In this case, consideration is needed to improve the safety factor of the marine to the operational side. It is also needed to develop the maintenance with the Reliability Centered Maintenance (RCM) approach. This study explores the method of maintenance for marine boiler maintenance systems on tankers using the RCM II method. This study also determines the characteristics of asset failure to assist in assessing the level of risk to asset operations. Based on the results of the RCM analysis, it could be seen that there are 128 maintenance tasks consisting of 3 types of activities: Condition Monitoring (CM), planned maintenance (PM) and One-Time Change (OTC). For failure modes that have high risk, preventive maintenance is performed at intervals every 1 to 7 days. For the longest preventive maintenance, intervals carried out on the safety valve are every 2 years.

Pollution level and health risk assessment of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons in marine fish from two coastal regions, the South China Sea

Marine fishes are consumed in large quantities by humans as nutritious food. However, the intake of fish polluted by chemicals may pose a severe threat to human health. This study measured the concentrations of 16 priority polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) in the muscles of 22 species of marine fish from two coastal regions, i.e., Tanmen and Zhuhai, identified the source of PAHs, and assessed the human health risk by dietary exposure. Total PAH (Σ16PAHs) levels in Tanmen and Zhuhai fish were in the range of 24.29–684.83 ng g−1 dry weight (dw) and 13.74–42.59 ng g−1 dw, averaging 161.46 ng g−1 dw and 31.21 ng g−1 dw, respectively. Compared with other regions in the world, PAH concentrations in Tanmen fish were at median levels, and Zhuhai fish were at low levels. Low molecular weight PAHs (with 2- and 3-rings) were the predominant compounds detected. Molecular diagnostic ratios suggested that PAHs in Tanmen mainly originated from petrogenic sources such as vessel operations or tanker accidents, while Zhuhai fish were mainly polluted by pyrolytic sources such as combustion of coal and wood. The human health risk assessment results indicated that the risk of PAH intake via fish consumption from Zhuhai was negligible, while five species from Tanmen may pose potential health risks to local residents.

An Analysis of Selected Oil Spill Case Studies on the Shorelines of Canada

After an oil spill, oil may wash ashore and there is only a short window of opportunity to respond. Analysis of historical incident data is valuable to guide future responses and cleanup practices. This study summarized the oil spill accidents that impacted the Canadian shoreline and analyzed the related information including location, incident characteristics, and shoreline treatment. Major spills due to tanker accidents in Canadian marine waters fortunately have been infrequent. Most of the accidents have happened on Canada’s Pacific coast, accounting for 52% of the total accidents recorded. The Atlantic coast accounted for 39% and the remaining accidents happened in the Arctic region. Regarding spilled volume, 55% of the accidents spilled oil volumes smaller than 100 m3. Spilled volumes between 100 ~ 1000 m3 represent 30% of the incidents and 15% had spilled volume greater than 1000 m3. Bunker C fuel and diesel were the main types of the spilled oil, accounting for 33% of the spills, respectively. Within the oil spill accidents impacting Canadian shore- lines, marine vessel accidents were the major sources accounting for 70% of the spill accidents. In terms of the shoreline treatment, the commonly employed treatments were manual, vacuum, mechanical, and sorbent removal. The dataset highlighted the significance of a more comprehensive record for response phase details and environmental effects monitoring.

An Analysis of Selected Oil Spill Case Studies on the Shorelines of Canada

After an oil spill, oil may wash ashore and there is only a short window of opportunity to respond. Analysis of historical incident data is valuable to guide future responses and cleanup practices. This study summarized the oil spill accidents that impacted the Canadian shoreline and analyzed the related information including location, incident characteristics, and shoreline treatment. Major spills due to tanker accidents in Canadian marine waters fortunately have been infrequent. Most of the accidents have happened on Canada’s Pacific coast, accounting for 52% of the total accidents recorded. The Atlantic coast accounted for 39% and the remaining accidents happened in the Arctic region. Regarding spilled volume, 55% of the accidents spilled oil volumes smaller than 100 m3. Spilled volumes between 100 ~ 1000 m3 represent 30% of the incidents and 15% had spilled volume greater than 1000 m3. Bunker C fuel and diesel were the main types of the spilled oil, accounting for 33% of the spills, respectively. Within the oil spill accidents impacting Canadian shore- lines, marine vessel accidents were the major sources accounting for 70% of the spill accidents. In terms of the shoreline treatment, the commonly employed treatments were manual, vacuum, mechanical, and sorbent removal. The dataset highlighted the significance of a more comprehensive record for response phase details and environmental effects monitoring.

Hydrophobic Cross‐Linked Poly(dimethylsiloxane)‐Based Sorbents for Oil Spill Applications

AbstractWith the increase of industrialization and urbanization, humankind faces massive oil‐based pollution due to tanker accidents, human error, and natural disasters. For this, hydrophobic sorbents are fabricated and their applications for the removal of oil from polluted water sources are investigated. These hydrophobic sorbents are prepared by the condensation reaction of poly(dimethylsiloxane) and tris[3‐(trimethoxysilyl)propyl]isocyanurate cross‐linker via bulk polymerization. The obtained sorbents exhibit high oil sorption capacity, fast absorption–desorption kinetics, and great reusability. Moreover, they can selectively absorb oil from the water surface, thus making them practical for water clean‐up applications.

Marine oil spill pollution causes and governance: A case study of Sanchi tanker collision and explosion

With the uneven oil distribution worldwide and the growing dependency on oil across countries, tanker transportation has gained increasing predominance in oil trade. However, as a dangerous and highly polluting branch of the maritime industry, oil tankers cannot be underestimated in terms of harm of their oil spills. In recent decades, although oil tanker spill accidents have decreased in number, the hazards of their pollution remain. The Sanchi ship accident in 2018 is a typical example. It is of value to explore how to locate the accident causes and propose effective measures to reduce such accidents. This article takes the Sanchi collision and explosion accident as the subject of study and systematically analyzes main factors of the accident using the fault tree analysis method, with strategies for future tanker management proposed. As shown in results, the factors that contributed to the oil tanker accident are quite complicated, with human factors playing a major part structurally. In addition, management, environmental and ship factors also played a part. Finally, corresponding governance strategies are proposed based on the structural relationships between the factors. The research in this article is of guiding significance for shipping companies to reduce tanker oil spills related to ship collision and acts as an important basis for water transportation administrations to make emergency decisions for such tanker oil spills.

OILSPILL AND LOOK-ALIKE SPOTS FROM SAR IMAGERY USING OTSU METHOD AND ARTIFICIAL NEURAL NETWORK

Oil spill pollution plays a significant role in damaging marine ecosystem. Discharge of oil due to tanker accidents has the most dangerous effects on marine environment. The main waste source is the ship based operational discharges. Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) can be effectively used for the detection and classification of oil spills. Oil spills appear as dark spots in SAR images. One major advantage of SAR is that it can generate imagery under all weather conditions. However, similar dark spots may arise from a range of unrelated meteorological and oceanographic phenomena, resulting in misidentification. A major focus of research in this area is the development of algorithms to distinguish ‘oil spills’ from ‘look-alikes’. The features of detected dark spot are then extracted and classified to discriminate oil spills from look-alikes. This paper describes the development of a new approach to SAR oil spill detection using Segmentation method and Artificial Neural Networks (ANN). A SAR-based oil-spill detection process consists of three stages: image segmentation, feature extraction and object recognition (classification) of the segmented objects as oil spills or look-alikes. The image segmentation was performed with Otsu method. Classification has been done using Back Propagation Network and this network classifies objects into oil spills or look-alikes according to their feature parameters. Improved results have been achieved for the discrimination of oil spills and look-alikes.

A case study on oil pollution in Istanbul Strait: Revisiting 1994 Nassia tanker accident by utilising Potential Incident Simulation Control and Evaluation System (PISCES-II) simulation. What would be different in terms of response if Nassia accident happened today?

Turkey, with her two important straits, is geographically in the middle of one of the major transportation routes and will continue to face risks the oil tankers pose in those sensitive areas. This paper revisits the site of an oil tanker accident that occurred at the northern entrance of the Istanbul Strait in 1994. The aim of the study was to simulate the same accident in PISCES-II Simulator to compare the response actions of the time with the present capabilities. Effort is also made to understand how the negative impacts of an oil spill accident can be lessened. Therefore, the study is planned to set to cover two separate response scenarios for the identical oil spill incident, actually simulating the 1994 M/T Nassica accident. The results showed that oil pollution response in places with strong currents like Istanbul Strait needs special care to sea conditions as well as related assets.

Environmental sensitivity index mapping as a prevention strategy against oil spill pollution: A case study on the coastal area of South Sumatera Province in Indonesia

Coastal areas are vulnerable to oil spill pollution from tanker accidents or unappropriated operational procedures from the oil and gas industry. This study was aimed to develop a prevention strategy to minimize damage and to ensure vulnerable natural resources and local community fisheries economic activities in coastal areas are protected. The local community utilizes fisheries resources in coastal waters of South Sumatera Province as their main livelihood. The potential of fish and shrimp resources in this area is quite abundant due to the existence of good mangrove ecosystems and located in the high-organic environment of Musi River estuary. On the other hand, the area is highly potential to be threatened by oil spill accident from the nearby of Bangka Strait just right in front of the Musi Estuary. A model named Environmental Sensitivity Index (ESI) has been developed to classify the level of sensitivities along the shoreline and habitats of the study area to protect such area. Environmental sensitivity index takes into account the vulnerability, biological and socio-economical characteristics for each coastal environmental feature such as fisheries resources and mangrove ecosystem. These three fundamental ESI elements are transferred into three indexes, i.e. Vulnerability Index, Ecological Index and Social Index. Spatial analysis through the geographic information system of overlay technique is applied to determine each environmental feature to produce ESI Map. The results of the ESI analysis show that coastal waters which are habitat of brackish water fishes and shrimps harvested by passive fishing gear such as Kelong (a combination of Guiding Barrier and Fixed lift net) and Sero (Guiding Barrier) are categorized as the sensitive category, while other offshore waters are classed as moderate level. Shoreline type and mangrove ecosystems classified as very sensitive. As consequences, this area must be a top priority in protecting the area from any of oil spill pollution. ESI analysis can be used as an appropriate tool in the determination of priority area need to be protected from any oil spill events.

An approach to environmental sensitivity index study at coastal area toward oil spill accident: A case study on the northern and southern coast of Madura Island

Coastal resources and their local community economic activities are prone to oil spills pollution from tanker accidents or unappropriated operational procedures from the oil and gas industry. This study was aimed to develop supporting a prevention strategy to minimize damage and to ensure vulnerable natural resources and the local community in coastal areas are protected. Two methodologies applied to perform an integrated Environmental Sensitivity Index (ESI) named IPIECA (International Petroleum Industry Environmental Conservation Association) method and methodology that was developed by an expert from the Center of Coastal and Marine Resources Studies, IPB University (CESI, Composite ESI). The area study was located in the coastal area of Madura Island, East Java Province. Various ecosystems, shoreline types, and coastal area utilizing types have resulted in many combinations of ESI. The highest level of sensitivity will be prompted by the existence of an important ecosystem and economically land use utilizing. The important ecosystems, such as mangrove ecosystems, will result in more sensitive areas in IPIECA criteria than in CESI criteria. Consistently, in terms of socio-economic activities, land use, which has high production value and a high amount of persons employed, will be categorized as a very sensitive area.

THE EFFECTIVENESS ABSORPTION TEST OF LUBRICATING OIL WASTE AND HSD FUEL WITH NATURAL FIBERS (DURIAN SKIN)

Pollution of sea water due to oil spills often occurs. Among them are tanker accidents, explosions of offshore oil platforms, ship operation errors and waste from the petroleum and coal industries. Oil spills in the sea often cause pollution which leads to damage to biological resources and damage to the underwater ecosystem. The purpose of this study was to determine the process and processing, and to determine the ability of durian skin to adsorb lubricating oil waste and HSD fuel. This research was conducted by processing the waste with variations of time 2, 5, and 10 minutes. And with variations in durian skin size of 0.25 mm², 1 mm², and 9 mm². With drying of durian skin between 1-15 days with 1-30 days. Then the results were analyzed to determine the efficiency of absorbing durian skin. The results of STTAL laboratory studies showed an increase in durian skin mass after undergoing a process of adsorption of lubricating oil waste and HSD fuel. Thus, the optimal durian skin time and size obtained on lubricating oil waste is 10 minutes with a surface area of 1 mm², mass of 4 grams in drying for 1-30 days. With efficiency of 82.54%. Whereas the HSD fuel is 10 minutes with a surface area of 0.25 mm², mass 4 grams on drying for 1-15 days. With an efficiency of 86.03%.Keywords: Durian skin, adsorption of lubricating oil waste, HSD

Oil tanker risks on the marine environment: An empirical study and policy implications

Oil pollution, which is mainly caused by oil tanker accidents, is an important concern in the protection of the marine environment. In order to propose pollution prevention policy for oil tankers, this study first employs four machine learning methods to evaluate oil tanker accident probability, and then proposes a risk evaluation system which is jointly measured by accident probabilities and consequences. Crude oil tanker accident data from 1991 to 2016 were collected and analyzed. The main findings are as follows: First, the random forest (RF) method produces the best overall performance for oil tanker accident probability. Second, the accident probabilities of larger crude oil tankers are lower, while older vessels within the parameter of 0–15 years exhibit declining accident probabilities. Third, tankers classified by the International Association of Classification Societies (IACS) members, registered in closed registry, built in China and South Korea, or owned by developed countries prove to be safer with lower accident probabilities. Fourth, the use of double hull in tankers also contributes to a higher tanker safety level. The results contribute to marine environment protection by helping stakeholders to identify accident risk factors, assess accident risk and take actions to reduce accident probabilities.

Maritime Tanker Accidents and Their Impact on Marine Environment

Shipping is a fundamental mode of transportation for 85 per cent of the world trade, supplying raw materials, energy, manufactured goods, foodstuffs etc. to the global population, is carried by international shipping industry. In such busy traffic, unfortunately, accidents are inevitable events. Large numbers of casualties occur at sea almost every day. Human loss and marine environmental damage, among others such as financial and property losses, are the most crucial and hazardous disasters caused by maritime accidents. There are several causes playing role in maritime accidents such as natural conditions, technical failures, route conditions, ship-related factors, human errors, cargo-related factors. There are also quite many types of maritime accidents; they include oil spill, ship grounding, fire, to mention a few. The impact of maritime accidents on the marine environment differs from one another. The main purpose of this paper is to determine and analyse the effects of maritime accidents on the marine environment. The analysis was based on data published over the past 56 years involving spills of 7000 tons oils. Within this scope, firstly, the literature related to maritime accidents involving spills was reviewed and then the statistics of maritime accidents and their impact on marine environment worldwide were analyzed and evaluated.

Vertically zeolitic imidazolate framework‐L coated mesh with dagger‐like structure for oil/water separation

AbstractThe novel functional superwettable materials for high‐efficiency oil/water separation are urgently required due to oil pollution in water body caused by oil tanker accidents, seabed oil production, and oil from refineries and petrochemical plants. Here, the superhydrophobic and superoleophilic zeolitic imidazolate framework‐L (ZIF‐L) mesh with antimicrobial effect was successfully fabricated by in‐situ growth, composed of vertically ZIF‐L with micro‐/nanodagger‐like structure and exhibited the water contact angle of 155.4 ± 1.8° and the oil contact angle of 0° in air. Furthermore, ZIF‐L was verified to have an excellent antimicrobial activity, which endowed ZIF‐L mesh with good antimicrobial performance. ZIF‐L mesh provided a permeation flux with 1.75 × 105 L m−2 hr−1 and 99.7% separation efficiency after 10 cycles operations for water mixtures with isooctane and presented optimal stability. Accordingly, the results demonstrated that ZIF‐L as a new material shows an attractive applied promise for oil/water separation in industry.

From Smart Windows to Papertronics – Forward Thinking Trends

Sustainability. A keyword that we encounter (almost) everywhere. In recent years, if not decades, the desire for more sustainability has grown worldwide. Logically, this desire has led to major changes, whether in economic, operational or political terms. In scientific terms, the main focus is on making life and the economy itself climate-friendly and resource-saving. The journal Advanced Sustainable Systems offers a platform for scientists across all scientific disciplines to publish research results on climate compatibility and resource efficiency. After its launch in 2017 the still very young journal has now completed its second year of publishing high-quality science in the field of sustainability. It is thus time to go on a fact-finding mission and take a look at a few numbers describing how Advanced Sustainable Systems has developed. As announced in our previous editorial, the journal is now included in Web of Science (the Emerging Sources Citation Index) having logged 196 citations (all numbers are as of Nov 30th, 2018 – the time of writing this Editorial). The 140 published primary and review articles have been downloaded a total of ∼ 65 000 times. Both numbers are encouraging and reflect high interest from our growing community. With increasing numbers of submissions in 2018, we are also able to be more and more selective with the published content (the reject rate has increased by 35%) in order to ensure high quality for our readers. An international, inter-disciplinary journal can only flourish if its authorship is as diverse as possible. we strive therefore, to have a globally balanced distribution of authors. Figure 1 shows a geographic visualization of where the corresponding authors of all published articles originate from. Top countries are China, the US, Australia and Korea, followed by Germany and Italy. The articles of particular interest shown in Figure 2 (selected due to high download numbers and a wide distribution via social media such as blogs, posts and news platforms) nicely reflect both the bandwidth of the published topics in the journal as well as the diverse backgrounds of our authors. Who does not long for comfortable room temperatures without the associated costs for heating or cooling? Smart Windows must certainly be a good answer (adsu.201700140). An important step towards green electronics: This unexpected paper-based material for ‘papertronics’ combines flexibility with biodegradability, low cost, sustainability and bacteria-derived energy (adsu.201800041). Waste as a valuable resource. Oil pollution, be it from tanker accidents at sea or from drilling, is an environmentally unfriendly side effect. Effective materials for the removal of such pollution are in demand (adsu.201800024). Underwater property: the key issue for future solar distillation. Find out how Pitaya-like structured photothermal materials survive 6 atm in the black (adsu.201700145). Sustainability trends such as life after coal, extreme weather conditions in urban development, bio-based materials, solar energy in the historic cityscape, microplastics in the environment, and many more, are published in the form of expert opinions and essays in our journal. Two recent essays of particular note discuss topics of key concern to the 21st century community. Mario Pagliaro and co-authors give an exciting and critical overview of Decentralized solar energy systems in cities. Claudia Kemfert examines the energy system transformation and is especially dedicated to the necessity of coal phase-out. In the near future, Expert Opinions will be published on consequences in urban development with regard to extreme weather conditions and on biobased materials in the circular economy. We are convinced that this format will be of great interest to our readers. Expertise guarantees quality. We thank all the countless reviewers who keep the standards and quality of our journal high. Special thanks to our most diligent reviewers: Dr. Ali Coskun, Professor Franceso Meinardi, Dr. Marin Sawa, Dr. Li Yu, and Professor Jia Zhu. We would also like to express our gratitude for your interest in Advanced Sustainable Systems to all of you, our editorial board members, authors, and last but not least, our readers. Wishing you a peaceful, joyful, successful, and sustainable Year 2019.

A Case Study of Biosurfactant Producing Bacterial Bloom from Oil Contaminated Sites After Flood in Kerala

Petroleum spillage around the world have played major role in generating the solid Wastes during the tanker accidents and stocking of crude oil. The ecology of hydrocarbon degradation by microbial populations in the natural environment is analysed, highlighting the physical, chemical, and biological factors that cause the biodegradation of petroleum and individual hydrocarbons. Therefore, the present study has shown that the indigenous Bacillus sp., isolated from the polluted study sample (Kochi) possessed the capacity to produce suitable biosurfactant. The effectiveness of the bioremediation mediated by the biosurfactant extract was studied by finding out the germination percentage of a fast growing leguminous plant (Pisum sativum). Therefore the findings of the study revealed that the bacillus sp., isolated from Kochi possesses remarkable oil degrading properties and can be effectively employed in the bioremediation of oil contaminated soils. It can be considered as one the effective clean-up technologies of the future.

Understanding the spatial patterns of tanker accidents in Nigeria using geographically weighted regression

Road traffic accidents involving tankers are important causes of death and injury in Nigeria. This study examined spatial patterns and possible determinants of tanker accidents in Nigeria. Secondary data on tanker accidents for the year 2007 to 2010 and other relevant data were sourced from the databases of the Federal Road Safety Commissions of Nigeria and National Bureau of Statistics. The spatial patterns of tanker accidents were mapped using Global and local Moran's I statistics. The data were also subjected to Ordinary Least Square and Geographically Weighted Regression techniques. Findings indicated that tanker accidents vary by state and also revealed an upward trend in the occurrence of tanker accidents. The local Moran's I indicate persistent clustering of tanker accidents in two states throughout the study periods. Factors influencing the patterns of tanker accidents in the country were identified. The study recommends strategies for the avoidance of tanker accidents in Nigeria.

Fault Tree Analysis of Tanker Accidents during Loading and Unloading Operations at the Tanker Terminals

Fault Tree Analysis of Tanker Accidents during Loading and Unloading Operations at the Tanker Terminals