TY - JOUR
T1 - Estimating the usefulness of chemical dispersant to treat surface spills of oil sands products
AU - King, Thomas
AU - Robinson, Brian
AU - Ryan, Scott
AU - Lee, Kenneth
AU - Boufadel, Michel
AU - Clyburne, Jason
N1 - Funding Information:
Funding: This research was funding by the Department of Fisheries and Ocean Canada under the Government of Canada’s Oceans Protection Plan.
Publisher Copyright:
© 2018 by the authors.
PY - 2018/11/6
Y1 - 2018/11/6
N2 - This study examines the use of chemical dispersant to treat an oil spill after the initial release. The natural and chemically enhanced dispersion of four oil products (dilbit, dilynbit, synbit and conventional crude) were investigated in a wave tank. Experiments were conducted in spring and summer to capture the impact of temperature, and the conditions in the tank were of breaking waves with a wave height of 0.4 m. The results showed that natural dispersion effectiveness (DE) was less than 10%. But the application of dispersant increased the DE by an order of magnitude with a statistically significant level (p < 0.05). Season (spring versus summer) had an effect on chemical DE of all oils, except for the conventional oil. Thus, the DE of dilbit products is highly dependent on the season/temperature. A model was fitted to the DE as a function of oil viscosity for the chemically dispersed oil, and the correlation was found to be very good. The model was then combined with a previous model compiled by the author predicting oil viscosity as a function of time, to produce a model that predicts the DE as function of time. Such a relation could be used for responders tackling oil spills.
AB - This study examines the use of chemical dispersant to treat an oil spill after the initial release. The natural and chemically enhanced dispersion of four oil products (dilbit, dilynbit, synbit and conventional crude) were investigated in a wave tank. Experiments were conducted in spring and summer to capture the impact of temperature, and the conditions in the tank were of breaking waves with a wave height of 0.4 m. The results showed that natural dispersion effectiveness (DE) was less than 10%. But the application of dispersant increased the DE by an order of magnitude with a statistically significant level (p < 0.05). Season (spring versus summer) had an effect on chemical DE of all oils, except for the conventional oil. Thus, the DE of dilbit products is highly dependent on the season/temperature. A model was fitted to the DE as a function of oil viscosity for the chemically dispersed oil, and the correlation was found to be very good. The model was then combined with a previous model compiled by the author predicting oil viscosity as a function of time, to produce a model that predicts the DE as function of time. Such a relation could be used for responders tackling oil spills.
KW - AccessWestern Blend (condensate/bitumen-dilbit)
KW - Dispersant
KW - Dispersion effectiveness (DE)
KW - Heidrun
KW - Synthetic Bitumen (synthetic crude/bitumen-Synbit)
KW - Wave tank
KW - Western Canadian Select (condensate mixed with synthetic crude/bitumen-dilsynbit)
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U2 - 10.3390/jmse6040128
DO - 10.3390/jmse6040128
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:85056391197
SN - 2077-1312
VL - 6
JO - Journal of Marine Science and Engineering
JF - Journal of Marine Science and Engineering
IS - 4
M1 - 128
ER -