Professional Documents
Culture Documents
Part 3
Oil Pollution
EnvE 301
2023-2024 Spring
Filiz B. Dilek
Causes:
Oil refineries
Fate of oil in Marine Enve
Loss to the atm (light fraction, short HC,
Wind, temp., light aromatics --- most toxic
Aerosols and sprays
Oil slick
sediment
Light oil, if there are no winds, good sunlight, high temp then
as much as 80% may evaporate.
Conversely, if winds are strong, waves high as much as
80% may go particulate oil.
Tanker Accidents
From: guardian.co.uk
Oil on rocks
Oil on water
The clean-up drive - but beach clearing in populated areas requires hard labour
Deepwater Horizon disaster - Gulf Mexico-2010
Largest marine oil spill in history, caused by explosion on the Deepwater
Horizon oil platform (Gulf of Mexico) (April 20, 2010), 66 km off the coast
of Louisiana.
Oil slick covering 5200 km2; over 205 million gallons of oil
were released into the Gulf.
Fireboat response crews attempting to extinguish the fire on
the Deepwater Horizon oil rig in the Gulf of Mexico, April
21, 2010.
Controlled burn of oil spilled in the
Deepwater Horizon disaster, Gulf of
Mexico, May 6, 2010. The burning oil
was contained by a length of boom.
Effects of Oil Pollution on the marine life:
Biota Affected:
https://www.britannica.com/event/Deepwater-Horizon-oil-spill
Seal pup coated in oil
Turtle Found Dead at the Beach
Effects of Oil Pollution on the marine life:
There is notable effect on phytoplankton. Primary
production reduces drastically. 10-4 – 0.1 mg/l oil stops cell
division.
➢ Mechanical Method
➢ Use of Dispersants
➢ Biological control
Mechanical Method
Flow of oil is controlled by booms or skimmers. Once the
flow is controlled, next step is to contain the oil.
Oi
l
Oi
l
Oi
l
Dispersants
Two elements are essential in practice:
➢The surfactant must mix readily with the oily water thus
requiring a solvent , if it is viscous or waxy (as is often the
case)
➢Agitation is necessary to initiate the formation of
droplets.
heli spray
boat spray
By disseminating a pollutant in the water column,
Spraying dispersants
e.g. by Pseudomonads
Biological Control
adequate N or P must be available.
The use of fungi has the advantage that they are more
resistant than bacteria to external influences such as UV
radiation, fluctuation in osmotic pressure.
It must be realized that there is no universally
“right” method, each spillage must be considered
individually, since local conditions such as water
movement and temp. as well as type of oil,
thickness of slick, degree of weathering, nature
and value of coastline or proximity of offshore
regions will ultimately dictate the choice of
materials or equipment.