Contingency Arrangements

Problem statement: Anthropogenic activities pollute the oceans with oil through land run off, vessels accidents, periodic tanker discharges and bilge discharges. Oil spills are environmental disasters that impact human, plants and wild life including birds, fish and mammals. Approach: In this study, the International Guidelines for Preventing Oils Spills and Response to Disasters were reviewed and the characteristics of oil spills were discussed. The advantages and disadvantages of various oil spill response methods were evaluated. A comparative analysis were performed on the currently available remediation technologies using 10 evaluation criteria that included cost, efficiency, time, impact on wild life, reliability, level of difficulty, oil recovery, weather, effect on physical/chemical characteristics of oil and the need for further treatment. The advantages and disadvantages of each response method were used to determine the score assigned to that method. Results: There are many government regualtions for individual countries that serve as prevention mesures for oil spills in the offshore environment. They have to do with the design of equipment and machinery used in the offshore environment and performing the necessary safety inspections. The primary objectives of response to oil spill are: to prevent the spill from moving onto shore, reduce the impact on marine life and speed the degradation of any unrecovered oil. There are several physical, chemical, thermal and biological remediation technologies for oil spills including booms, skimmers, sorbents, dispersants, in-situ burning and bioremediation. Each technique has its advantages and disadvantages and the choice of a particular technique will depend on: type of oil, physical, biological and economical characteristics of the spill, location, weather and sea conditions, amount spilled and rate of spillage, depth of water column, time of the year and effectiveness of technique. Coclusion: Based on the comparative analysis, oil recovery with mechanical methods and the application of dispersants followed by bioremediation is the most effective response for marine oil spill.

A Bayesian Network risk model for assessing oil spill recovery effectiveness in the ice-covered Northern Baltic Sea

There are many and varied factors related to oil, biota, and the environment. And because individually or in combination those factors produce a highly complex situation, it is impossible to predict, except in produce a highly complex situation, it is impossible to predict, except in a general way, the impact of an oil spill. Introduction There is a widespread belief among a large portion of the population that after an oil spill the area will become desolate - never to recover again. When it does not happen, there is often an air of disbelief and confusion. This is partly because of apparently conflicting reports after oil spills. There is a demand for a cut-and-dried answer to problems - a "yes" or "no" - without any regard for the complexity of the matter. However, while general predictions can be made, there is no answer yet to the question, "What will be the environmental impact of an oil spill?" I plan to discuss what I consider to be the nine most plan to discuss what I consider to be the nine most important factors that individually and in combined interaction result in the recording of different changes after different oil spills. The biological damage caused by an oil spill will be governed by a combination of several factors including: (1) the type of oil spilled, (2) the dose of oil, (3) the physiography of the area of the spill, (4) weather conditions at the time of the spill, (5) the biota of the area, (6) the season of the spill, (7) previous exposure of the area to oil, (8) exposure to other previous exposure of the area to oil, (8) exposure to other pollutants, and (9) the treatment of the spill. pollutants, and (9) the treatment of the spill. As will become obvious in the discussion that follows, even these categories are not cut and dried. Type of Oil Spilled This is probably the most important factor. Table 1 gives a summary of the circumstances and documented damage after six oil spills. The immediate damage was recorded as greatest after the two spills that involved diesel oil. The heavier oils had a smothering rather than a toxic effect in the intertidal zone. They also resulted in greater sea-bird mortality than the lighter diesel oils. Part of these differences are due to differences in composition of the oils involved and part to the differences in behavior of the oils. For example, Santa Barbara crude oil tends to float on the surface of the water and is relatively insoluble in water, but the No. 2 diesel oil spilled from the Florida spread rapidly through the water column. In the former instance, organisms at the water surface - the neuston and pelagic birds - and intertidal organisms are the main groups exposed to the oil whereas in the latter case the surface-dwelling organisms received relatively less exposure to oil, but the whole environment was exposed to the oil. The No. 2 fuel oil contained 41 percent aromatic hydrocarbons and no asphaltenes. The Santa Barbara crude is low in aromatic hydrocarbons" and is asphaltic. Composition of the oil also governs any visible residue left after a spill. In June, 1970, oil was not immediately visible on the mud flats in Wilde Harbor, which was polluted by No. 2 diesel in Sept., 1969. However, when water accumulated in fresh footprints in the mud. an oil film was visible. In Santa Barbara, on the other hand. asphaltic deposits remain in crevices on the beaches not cleaned by Union Oil Co. of California and from natural seepage. JPT P. 250

In this review paper, we briefly discuss the occurrence of oil spills and their behavior under natural sea conditions and clean-up methods, as well as their environmental and economic impacts. We discuss methodologies for oil spill modeling used to predict the fate of a spill under dynamic physical and chemical processes. Weathering processes such as evaporation, emulsification, spreading, dissolution, dispersion, biodegradation, and sedimentation are considered within easy-to-use modeling frameworks. We present simple models based on the principles of thermodynamics, mass transfer, and kinetics that under certain conditions can predict oil thickness, volume, area, composition, and the distribution of toxic compounds in water and air over time for various types of oil and their products. Modeling approaches for underwater oil jets, including applications related to the 2010 BP oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico, are reviewed. The influence of sea surface velocity and wind speed on oil spill mapping, spill location, oil spill trajectory over time, areas affected by light, medium, and heavy oil, and comparisons between satellite images and model predictions are demonstrated. Finally, we introduce several recently published articles on more recent oil spill incidents and the application of predictive models in different regions. We also discuss the challenges, advantages, and disadvantages of various models and offer recommendations at the end of the paper.

Petroleum contamination is a growing environmental concern that harms both terrestrial and aquatic ecosystems. However, the public and regulatory and scientific communities have given more attention to the contamination of marine habitats. This is because marine oil spills can have a serious economic impact on coastal activities, as well as on those who exploit the resources of the sea. Thus, communities that are at risk of oil disasters must anticipate the consequences and prepare for them. The deliberate release of around 6 million barrels of oil during the 1991 Gulf War in the marine environment is the largest oil spill in history. In the Gulf of Mexico, the BP Deepwater Horizon (DWH) oil spill on 20th April, 2010, which lasted over approxi‐ mately three months, is the second largest in human history. When oil is spilled at sea it initially spreads out and moves on the water surface as a slick. It is a few millimetres thick and moves with the wind and current. At the same time, it undergoes a number of chemical and physical changes. The spreading of marine oil spills is affected by the action of winds, waves, water currents, oil type and temperature. Marine oil spills enhance the evaporation of volatile fractions such as low molecular weight alkanes and monoaromatic hydrocarbons. The natural actions, which are always at work in aquatic environment, include weathering, evaporation, oxidation, biodegradation and emulsification. Generally, the effects of oil toxicity depend on a multitude of factors. These include the oil composition and characteristics (physical and chemical), condition (i.e., weathered or not), exposure routes and regimen, and bioavailability of the oil. If the levels exceed the threshold concentration, the additive toxic effect of hydrocarbons can lead to mortality. PAHs are the major contributors to toxicity. They have different metabolic pathways that produce metabolites. These have oxidative and carcinogenic properties due to their ability to attack and bind to DNA and proteins. Inhaling © 2015 The Author(s). Licensee InTech. This chapter is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. hydrocarbons can cause respiratory tract irritations, as well as narcosis in mammals and birds. This is due to the volatile nature of hydrocarbons. Oil dispersants, which are a common tool used after oil spills, are also toxic and threaten pelagic and benthic organisms, as well as fish. In recent years, written studies have provided a considerable amount of information regarding the impact of oil spills and contamination of the seawater by hydrocarbons. The impact on marine life is impaired by the toxicity and tainting effects resulting from the chemical composition of oil, as well as by the diversity and variability of biological systems and their sensitivity to oil pollution. Marine life may also be affected by clean-up operations or, indirectly, by the physical damage to the habitats in which plants and animals live. Communities that are threatened by marine oil spills have developed their own plans and policies to counteract the risk of marine oil contamination. These range from permitting or prohibiting increased oil transport volumes, to developing the capacity to respond to and recover from potential oil spill disasters. Considering that approx‐ imately half of the world’s oil production comes from the Gulf States and passes through the Gulf, its liability to pollution is about 48 times that of any other similar area on earth. Thus, the Gulf is possibly the most chronically oil-polluted marine area in the world. Due to the different anthropogenic activities relating to oil spills, in addition to the natural environmental stresses of the Gulf, a number of socio-economic impacts are predicted. The multi-million dollar fish industry will be threatened, as well as the desalination of plants that supply most of the Gulf population’s freshwater. Furthermore, people with careers in scuba diving will lose their jobs. As a result, the scuba diving tourism sector will also come under threat.

Cost-effectiveness criteria for marine oil spill preventive measures

Oil spills are random phenomenon and occur in many sizes and forms. The largest 50 spill events are listed, noting that the Gulf War spill in 1991 remains the world’s largest oil spill. Organized and rapid response to oil spills is very important to minimize environmental damage. Contingency plans detail the planned response. Five types of oils and fuels are frequently spilled and include gasoline, diesel fuel, light and heavy crude oils, and bunker fuels. Two important properties of these oils include the viscosity and density. The viscosity of spilled products can vary over orders-of-magnitude. The behavior of oils when spilled dictates the environmental impact these will have. The most important oil behaviors are evaporation and water uptake. Evaporation is an exponential factor with time and thus most of the evaporation (about 80 %) occurs in the first 2 days. Water uptake takes place in any of the five ways: Soluble water Entrained water Meso-stable emulsions Stable emulsions Those that do not form any of the other types or unstable.

1141194 During oil spills response activities (OSR), discrimination and characterization of oil slicks has the potential to minimize false alarms and to indicate the location of thicker layers of oil, providing tactical and strategic information to decision makers. This specific demand for spatial intelligence during emergencies emphasizes the importance of the Multisource Image Processing System developed by the Brazilian Institute for Space Research (INPE) and described herein. Synthetic Aperture Radars (SAR) are the most common operational remote sensing data providers, acquiring images in different frequencies, incidence angles, resolutions, polarizations and formats (amplitude, intensity or complex). The system is able to integrate this product diversity including polarized (SAR), polarimetric (PolSAR) and optical data acquired by multiple sensors with different signal to noise ratios (SNR) and statistical distributions. The classifier uses a supervised approach to compare stochastic distances between different statistical distributions and statistical hypothesis testing to associate confidence levels to the results. Two study cases including mineral and biogenic oils with internal thickness variations were used to demonstrate the potential of the system to process SAR and PolSAR data, considering different formats and statistical distributions. The system was able to differentiate mineral oils from biogenic oils, as well as to detect thicker layers within the oil slicks with high global accuracies and low uncertainties. The polarimetric (dual and full-pol) and the intensity pair data had better accuracy at discriminating different types of oils; meanwhile SAR and PolSAR data returned statistically equivalent global accuracies in characterizing oil slicks. The low noise floor in UAVSAR sensor is able to detect oil thickness variations, which is feasible even if only using the VV channel. The possibility to qualitatively identify the thicker layers of the spilled oil, as well as minimize false alarms ratio is a significant contribution to ongoing efforts to improve OSR. The classification maps provided by the system may also be used to extract the relative areas for each type of oil, supporting the oil volume estimation. In this context, the integration of all information extracted from SAR and PolSAR data is useful both at strategic and tactical levels of an emergency, and is being used to guide aerial surveillance and the deployment of barriers and skimmers, aiming to increase oil recovery efficiency and minimize environmental impact.

A system involving the use of a surface-tension modifier is feasible for controlling and recovering oil spilled on the ocean in a wide range of weather conditions. Tests have led to the conclusion that the chemicals are less harmful to the ecology than are the oils they help to recover. Introduction In the past, oil-spill containment and recovery under severe weather conditions has been achieved with only marginal success. It is generally accepted now that the effectiveness of existing mechanical booms is limited to wave heights under 4 ft and current velocities under 1 knot. Severe wave and wind action has generally caused mechanical failure of the booms. In those instances when booms have been effective in containing oil, wave action was not significant. The objective of the research reported here has been to evolve a system for oil-slick control and oil recovery that would be largely independent of the limitations that weather imposes on mechanical containment devices and on most existing oil recovery devices. The constraints placed upon the system were that it be effective under severe weather conditions and that it be highly mobile, preferably air transportable. The system that has evolved and that is reviewed here consists of the following: Oil-slick control by means of surface-activechemical agents that possess spreading forcesgreater than those of most oils. The surfacechemical agent prevents the spreading of oil onwater and in most cases causes an oil slick tocontract so as to occupy a much smaller areaof water surface. Generation and spreading of an open-cell, flexible polyurethane foam at the site of the spill. Pick-up of the oil-soaked polyurethane foam byeasily transportable net booms or by ship trawlsor purse seins. All pick-up activity is to behandled by marine equipment that generally isavailable in the coastal regions of the U. S. Extensive research has been conducted on surface-active chemicals and their effects on various types of oil under a variety of weather conditions. The toxicity of one of the most effective of these chemicals to the marine and littoral ecology has also been investigated. Development work has been done on ways of generating and spreading foam, using boats or helicopters. Work has also been performed on net booms for recovering foam, on a squeezing technique for regenerating the foam, and on a system for ultimately disposing of it. Oil-Slick Control Spreading of Oil on Water Cochran and Scott and others discussed at length the spreading of oil on water. After the initial spreading period in which gravitational forces play a large part, the only important force tending to cause the oil to spread is surface tension. Thin oil slicks tend to spread on water in response to the force imbalance shown schematically in Fig. 1. Three forces operate on an oil slick: the surface tension of water, w, which tends to spread the oil on the surface of the water; the surface tension of the oil, o, and the interfacial tension between the oil and the water ow. Both o and ow tend to cause the oil droplets or slick to contract upon itself. JPT P. 255

<div class="section abstract"><div class="htmlview paragraph">An oil spill refers to the accidental or deliberate release of petroleum or other petroleum-based products into the environment. These spills can occur on land or in water bodies, such as oceans, rivers, or lakes, and can have devastating impacts on the environment, wildlife, and human health. Oil spills can harm aquatic and terrestrial ecosystems by contaminating water and soil, and by affecting the food chain. They can also cause economic losses, such as the loss of fisheries, tourism, and property values. Cleaning up oil spills can be a difficult and expensive process, and the effectiveness of the response can depend on various factors, such as the type and amount of oil spilled, weather conditions, and proximity to sensitive ecosystems. Preventing oil spills is critical to minimizing their impacts. This can be achieved through measures such as regular maintenance of oil transport and storage facilities, the use of double- hulled tankers, and the implementation of emergency response plans.</div><div class="htmlview paragraph">Additionally, reducing our dependence on fossil fuels and transitioning to cleaner sources of energy can help to decrease the risks of oil spills. We have given an ideal proposal to clear the oil spills in the marine region and in the seashore to avoid massive pollution in the ecosystem and to provide a clean environment. In our idea proposal, we have planned to combine the road cleaning system with the oil spill cleaning system, so that it can be used for dual purposes and to clean in an efficient manner. This proposed invention aims to combine the functions of both oil skimmers and road sweeper machines into a single machine. The machine will be capable of removing oil spills from water surfaces as well as collecting debris and dust from roads and other surfaces. The design will utilize existing technologies and adapt them for this combined purpose, resulting in a more efficient and cost-effective solution for environmental clean-up and maintenance. This work highlights the potential benefits of this innovation, including increased productivity and reduced environmental impact.</div></div>

Introduction Oil spill cleanup personnel could be exposed to benzene during cleanup of accidental spill of crude oil at sea. S-Phenyl Mercapturic Acid (SPMA) is reported to be a sensitive urinary marker of exposure to low levels of benzene, but there is a lack of information on biological uptake of benzene during cleanup of oil spills. The aim of this study was to investigate the exposure to benzene during an oil spill by measuring the concentration of SPMA in urine for subjects participating in an oil spill field trial at sea. Methods The study included 22 subjects taking part in an oil spill field trial in the North Sea with two types of fresh crude oil. The subjects were located in open air sampling boats close to the oil slick ( Results SPMA was not detected in the urine samples of subjects wearing protective masks and in the control group. Among the six subjects who reported not to wear protective masks during the spill the concentration of SPMA in urine ranged 0.5–3.3 µmol/mol. They were all located in the boat closest to the oil spill. Discussion We have previously reported that mean personal exposure to benzene in air was 0.43 ppm for the personnel in the boat closest to the oil spill. The present study suggests that work with fresh oil spilled at sea might cause biological uptake of benzene. Appropriate personal respiratory protection should be used to prevent such uptake.

Increase in energy demand, stringent emission norms and depletion of oil resources have led the researchers to find alternative fuels for internal combustion engines. On the other hand, waste oils pose a very serious environment challenge because of their disposal problems all over the world. In this context, waste oils are currently receiving renewed interest. The properties of the oil derived from waste plastics, cooking and engines oils were analyzed and compared with the petroleum products and found that it has properties similar to that of diesel. This paper gives a brief review about using waste oil of these three types of oil as a fuel for diesel engines. The conversion process of each type of waste oil is presented. The results obtained from the experimental studies on a diesel engine are discussed. Key words: Waste oil, cooking, plastic, conversion, fuel, engine

Oil spill is considered as one of the biggest ecological disasters due to the scale of the impact it has, on the ecosystem being affected. Offshore oil spills have proven to be a global concern for marine ecosystem and appropriate measures for their control, prevention and removal of contaminants must be considered as top priority. This paper entails a detailed study of the various available oil spill clean-up techniques and looks at its advantages and limitations. Further, a grading system for all these methods based on oil type, treatment volume, weather conditions, complexity, water turbulence, time required for results, their environmental impact, cost and efficiency is prepared. In the case of a spill, oil dispersion behavior acts differently for different kind of fluids on sea water depending on their properties, with the effect of turbulence being one of the critical factors. This paper also focuses on the study of different behavior of crude oil and gasoline on sea water using a commercially available CFD (computational fluid dynamics) tool which utilizes more accurate and relevant mathematical formulations. A multiphase oil spill model has been developed to simulate dispersion of oil spill. A consistent Eulerian approach and Navier-Stokes equations is applied across the model, and the diffusion is employed to simulate oil dynamics in the water. The used Multiphase Oil Spill Model takes advantage of recent developments in the areas of CFD.

A near real-time environmental calculation of oil spill risk along the entire coast of Norway is developed as the EnviRisk model. Previous risk assessments utilize older decision models and repeated manual calculations that are costly as well as not accounting for the complexity of and changes in, ship traffic. Furthermore, cloud-providers have enabled enough data ingest and processing power to utilize high resolution shore and satellite based AIS data (Automated Identification System), to develop more dynamic and accurate risk calculation models than before. EnviRisk builds upon AISyRisk, an automated risk calculation model for marine traffic developed by the Norwegian Coastal Administration (NCA) and DNV GL. AISyRisk, includes a long-term data collection on probability of ship accidents and consequences for fatalities and oil spills for Norwegian waters (Norwegian Coastal Administration 2020). From AISyRisk, the probabilities for a certain oil spill (location, oil type and volume) is developed further to assess the environmental consequence in the EnviRisk model. As part of EnviRisk, extensive oil spill modelling is being performed in the cloud with the open source OpenDrift model (https://github.com/opendrift/opendrift/wiki) released by the Norwegian Meteorological Institute. This, combined with environmental sensitivity for both seabirds, marine mammals, fish and shoreline habitats, makes it feasible to quantify the environmental consequence and risk. Environmental risk is presented on a 10x10 km grid for the previous month of ship traffic and also accumulates statistics for risk over time. This paper presents the automated oil spill modelling and environmental risk calculation in EnviRisk. The method builds upon previous risk assessments for NCA for the Norwegian Coast (Braathen and Brude, 2011), for Svalbard and Jan Mayen (Braathen et. al., 2014) and for Greenland for Defence Command Denmark also in 2014 (Eikeland et. al., 2014). The approach is significantly improved particularly with respect to the oil spill modelling. Updates of AISyRisk and EnviRisk data and calculations are done monthly and the results published on a web portal administered by the Norwegian Coastal Administration where aggregated results are publicly available.

Recent advances in carbon nanotube sponge–based sorption technologies for mitigation of marine oil spills