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A Laboratory Screening Study On The Use Of Solidifiers As A Response Tool To Remove Crude Oil Slicks On Seawater
Citation:
Rosales, P. I., M. T. Suidan, AND A. D. VENOSA. A Laboratory Screening Study On The Use Of Solidifiers As A Response Tool To Remove Crude Oil Slicks On Seawater. CHEMOSPHERE. Elsevier Science Ltd, New York, NY, 80(4):389-395, (2010).
Impact/Purpose:
To discuss the effectiveness of five solidifiers to clean-up crude oil spills, as well as the chemical changes that occur during the solidification of crude oil. And will analyze the results using GC/MS, IR and UV-VIS when a solidifier reacts with crude oil.
Description:
The effectiveness of five solidifiers to remove Prudhoe Bay crude oil from artificial seawater in the laboratory was determined by ultraviolet-visible spectroscopy (UV-VIS) and gas chromatography/mass spectrometry (GC/MS). The performance of the solidifers was determined by US-VIS as a function of solidifier-to-oil mass ratios (SOR), water volume and surface area, and contact time. Four of the commercial solidifiers tested with an SOR 1:4 removed almost completely the crude oil slick on seawater. Under more severe test conditions (SOR 1:16) the material with better performance solidifed 62.8% of the oil initially added to water. The percent mass of free oil remaining on the seawater at the end of the contact time was the same when measured by either UV-VIS or by GC/MS. Analyses performed using GC/MS revealed that oil solidification is not a selective process; n-alkenes and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) reacted at a similar rate for each solidifier. Infrared Spectroscopy (IR) was used to investigate the functional groups in the materials as received. Carbonate appeared to be the most important functional group affecting solidifier performance.
