Oil Spills and a classification based on vulnerability index (along with two
case studies)
Abstract
Oil Spill can be defined as the release of Liquid Petroleum Hydrocarbon into the
environment due to human error especially in marine areas that can be very damaging and
have disastrous consequences for the society. Ocean oil pollution has been a problem since
the increase of oil transportation in the late 1960’s (Blumer, 1971). Although the annual oil
spill average has decreased (ITOPF, 2014), and despite substantial national and international
policy improvements for preventing oil spills over recent decades, large oil spills keep
occurring. It is because of this that we still have a need for effective solutions to clean the
ocean from inevitable oil pollution and eventual oil spill disasters which continue to occur.
This report exposes some consequences of oil spills in the environment including wildlife and
some new techniques of selective oil absorption, which can be used as effective action to
clean oil from ocean. Some remediation techniques include using Superwetting Nanowire
Membranes for Selective Absorption as well as Superhydrophobic and Oleophilic Calcium
Carbonate Powder as a Selective Oil Sorbent with Potential use in Oil Spill Clean-ups. Along
with the study of remediation techniques, we look at 2 specific examples of past oil spills
which are useful because they give some background on how the levels of one principle
contaminant classes associated with oil spills (PAH’s) have changed from before the
Deepwater Horizon Spill took place to after the cleanup efforts in the Gulf of Mexico (Allan,
2012). These PAH’s have a strong impact on coastal ecosystems even after the “cleanup” has
taken place which means that once a spill has taken place, it has done permanent damage no
matter what we do (Gundlach, 1978). As we can see, oil spills are a very serious concern
because of the amount of travel oil makes in order to feed societies need for it as well as the
disastrous affects that it has if it were to spill. Ever increasingly effective remediation
techniques are still being developed but nothing up to this point has a way to eliminate the
primary contaminants completely from the environment and because of this it should be of
great priority to contain any existing spills and work to prevent future spills.
References:
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Allan, Sarah E., Brian W. Smith, and Kim A. Anderson. "Impact of the Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill
on Bioavailable Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons in Gulf of Mexico Coastal Waters." Environmental
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Blumer, Max. “Scientific Aspects of the Oil Spill Problem”, 1 B.C. Envtl. Aff. L. Rev. 54 (1971),
http://lawdigitalcommons.bc.edu/ealr/vol1/iss1/4
Cornwall, Warren. "Deepwater Horizon: After the Oil." Deepwater Horizon: After the Oil.
ScienceMag, Apr. 2015. Web. 04 May 2015.
<http://www.sciencemag.org/content/348/6230/22.summary>.
Gundlach, Erich R., and Miles O. Hayes. "Vulnerability of coastal environments to oil spill impacts."
Marine Technology Society Journal 12, no. 4 (1978): 18-27.
Peterson, Charles H., Stanley D. Rice, Jeffery W. Short, Daniel Esler, James L. Bodkin, and David B.
Irons. "Long-Term Ecosystem Response to the Exxon Valdez Oil Spill." Science 302.5653 (2003):
2082-086. EBSCO HOST. Web. 24 Mar. 2015.
Tina Arbatan, Xiya Fang, Wei Shen, “Superhydrophobic and oleophilic calcium carbonate powder as
a selective oil sorbent with potential use in oil spill clean-ups”, Chemical Engineering Journal, Volume
166, Issue 2, 15 January 2011, Pages 787-791, ISSN 1385-8947,
http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.cej.2010.11.015.
(http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1385894710010995)