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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Fingas, Mervin
Basics of oil spill cleanup / written by Merv Fingas; edited by Jennifer Charles;
2nd ed.
p. cm.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 1-56670-537-1 (alk. paper)
1. Oil spills. 2. Oil spills--Canada. I. Charles, Jennifer.
TD427.P4 F55 2000
628.1′6833--dc21 00-056583
CIP
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© 2001 by CRC Press LLC
Lewis Publishers is an imprint of CRC Press LLC
No claim to original U.S. Government works
International Standard Book Number 1-56670-537-1
Library of Congress Card Number 00-056583
Printed in the United States of America 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0
Printed on acid-free paper
Cover photo Tugboats surround the Sea Empress — grounded and leaking oil — in an attempt
to refloat the stricken ship at high tide off the coast of England. (Oil Spill
Response Limited)
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Preface
This book is a revised and expanded edition of The Basics of Oil Spill Cleanup,
which was published by Environment Canada in 1978. With the rapid progress in
cleanup technology since that time, this edition is long overdue. This new edition
is designed to provide a broad knowledge of the cleanup and control of oil spills.
It is aimed at both the general public and those who actually deal with the cleanup
of oil spills, although it is not intended to serve as a field manual. The cleanup of
oil spills that occur on water is emphasized, since these spills spread most rapidly
and cause the most visible environmental damage.
The book deals primarily with crude oils and petroleum products derived from
crude oils. In addition to cleanup techniques, it covers how oil spills are measured
and detected, and the properties of the oil and its long-term fate in the environment.
The effects of an oil spill on the environment and the effectiveness of cleanup and
control vary significantly with the type of oil spilled. The types of oil are reviewed
to help the reader understand the different cleanup and control measures needed for
different types of oil and environmental circumstances. A glossary of technical terms
is provided at the back of the book.
The final chapter of the book, which deals with the effects of oil spills on the
environment and wildlife, has been added to this edition to provide a brief summary
of this important topic. Because the effects of oil on the environment are serious
and determine how and why we clean up spills, a summary of this topic seems an
appropriate way to end this volume.
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Introduction
Chapter 1 explains why oil spills happen and analyzes statistics on how often
and where they occur. This includes a summary of Canadian spills, sources of oil
spills into the seas worldwide, and a list of the largest oil spills that have occurred
in the last 30 years.
Chapter 2 deals with planning the response to an oil spill and the functions of
oil spill response organizations in industry and government. Topics covered include
contingency plans, training, the structure of response organizations, the duties of the
on-scene commander and response team, oil spill cooperatives, and the role of other
organizations and contractors in oil spill cleanup.
The chemical composition and physical properties of the different types of oil
are described in Chapter 3. The oils that are used in this book to illustrate the fate,
behaviour, and cleanup of oil spills are introduced. These represent the primary oil
and petroleum products used and spilled. They are: gasoline, diesel fuel, a light
crude oil, a heavy crude oil, an intermediate fuel oil (IFO) which is made from a
heavy residual oil and diesel fuel, a residual oil, sometimes called Bunker fuel, and
crude oil emulsion.
When oil spills on water, various transformation processes occur that are referred
to as the “behaviour” of the oil. Two types of transformation processes are discussed
in Chapter 4. The first is weathering, with emphasis on evaporation, the formation
of water-in-oil emulsions, and natural dispersion, and the second is a group of
processes related to the movement of oil in the environment. Spill modelling, wherein
the behaviour and movement components of an oil spill are simulated using a
computerized model, is also discussed.
Chapter 5 reviews the technologies used to detect and track oil slicks. This
includes both surface techniques and remote sensing techniques from aircraft and
satellites, which are especially useful when oil is difficult to detect, such as at night,
in ice, or among weeds. The analysis of samples to determine the oil’s properties,
its degree of weathering, its source, or its potential impact on the environment is
also discussed.
The most common way to contain oil on water is to use devices known as booms.
Chapter 6 covers the types of booms, their construction, operation principle, and
uses, as well as how and why they fail. It also covers ancillary equipment used with
booms, sorbent booms, and special-purpose and improvised booms.
Chapter 7 summarizes methods to physically recover oil from the water surface,
usually after it has been contained using booms. Devices known as skimmers are
available to recover oil. The effectiveness and advantages and disadvantages of
various types of skimmers are discussed. The use of sorbents, material that absorbs
the oil, is also reviewed. In some cases, the oil is recovered manually, and often all
of these approaches are used in a spill situation. Each method has limitations,
depending on the amount of oil spilled, sea and weather conditions, and the geo-
graphical location of the spill.
Storage, separation of oil from water and debris, and disposal of the oil are
crucial parts of a cleanup operation. Chapter 8 covers temporary storage, separation,
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and disposal, as well as the types of pumps used to move the oil from one process
to another.
Treating the oil with chemical agents is another option for cleaning up oil spills
on water. The use of these agents is discussed in Chapter 9. Dispersants are agents
that promote the formation of small droplets of oil that disperse throughout the water
column. Their effectiveness, toxicity, and application are reviewed. Other agents
discussed are surface-washing agents or beach cleaners, emulsion breakers and
inhibitors, recovery enhancers, solidifiers, sinking agents, and biodegradation agents.
In-situ burning is an oil spill cleanup technique that involves controlled burning
of the oil at or near the spill site. The advantages and disadvantages of this technique
are discussed in Chapter 10, as well as conditions necessary for igniting and burning
oil, burning efficiency and rates, and how containment is used to assist in burning
the oil, and to ensure that the oil burns safely. The air emissions produced by burning
oil are described and the results of the many analytical studies into these emissions
are summarized.
Oil spills on shorelines are more difficult and time-consuming to clean up than
spills in other locations, and cleanup efforts on shorelines can cause more ecological
and physical damage than if the removal of the oil is left to natural processes. Chapter
11 discusses the important criteria that are evaluated before deciding to clean up
oil-contaminated shorelines. These criteria include the behaviour of oil in shoreline
regions, the types of shorelines and their sensitivity to oil spills, the assessment
process, shoreline protection measures, and recommended cleanup techniques.
While oil spills on land are easier to deal with and receive less media attention
than spills on water, oil spills on land make up the vast majority of oil spills in
Canada. Chapter 12 describes the varying effects and behaviour of oil on different
habitats and ecosystems. Spills that occur primarily on the surface of the land and
those that occur partially or totally in the subsurface, and the different containment
and cleanup methods for each type of spill are outlined.
Chapter 13 reviews the many and varied effects of oil on different elements of
the environment and summarizes the state of the art in assessing the damage caused
by oil spills. The effects of oil on various organisms in the sea are discussed, as
well as effects on freshwater systems, life on land, and the effects of oil spills on
birds.
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About the Author
Merv Fingas, M.Sc., Ph.D., has worked for more than 25 years in the field of oil
spill technology at Environment Canada’s Environmental Technology Center in
Ottawa, Ontario. As head of the Emergencies Science Division at the Centre, he
currently conducts and manages research and development projects in the sciences
as they relate to spill measurement, evaluation, and control. His specialties include
spill dynamics and behaviour, studies of spill-treating agents, in-situ burning of oil
spills, and the technology of personal protection equipment. He is called upon to
make presentations on these subjects at international conferences around the world.
Dr. Fingas earned his doctorate in environmental sciences from McGill Univer-
sity in Montreal, Quebec. He also holds master’s degrees in science and business
administration from the University of Ottawa in Ontario, as well as a bachelor of
arts degree and technical training in machining and electronics.
Dr. Fingas has authored or co-authored more than 450 technical reports and
papers on various aspects of oil spill research. These include writings on the devel-
opment of new and improved procedures for testing dispersants and extracting
solvents, studies of water-in-oil emulsions and dispersants, monitoring oil spill
concentrations, identifying the source of oil spills, studies of chemical treating agents
and their effectiveness, in-situ burning of oil spills and the emissions from such
fires, oil spill remote sensors, and the review and selection of personal protection
equipment.
Dr. Fingas is on the editorial board of the Journal of Hazardous Materials, the
Spill Science and Technology Bulletin, and the Journal of Micro-Column Separa-
tions, and has served as guest editor for several special issues of these publications.
In 1999, he was appointed to the United States Academy of Sciences and is a member
of an eight-person committee to review the sources, fate, and effects of oil in the
sea. He is vice-chairman of the American Society for Testing Materials (ASTM)
F-20 Committee on Spill Standards, and chairman of the In-situ Oil Spill Burning
Committee.
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Acknowledgments
Major funding for the second edition of the Basics of Oil Spill Cleanup was
provided by the Emergencies Science Division, the Environmental Emergencies
Division, and Atlantic Region, Ontario Region, and Pacific & Yukon Region of
Environment Canada. Additional funding was also provided by the United States
Minerals Management Service and the Canadian Coast Guard.
The author gratefully acknowledges the following people for detailed review of
the text: Dagmar Etkin of Environmental Research Consulting for Chapter 1, Ed
Owens of Owens Coastal Consulting for Chapters 11 and 12, Sandra Blenkinsopp
of the Emergencies Science Division and Ken Lee of the Department of Fisheries
and Oceans for Chapter 13, and Ron Goodman of Imperial Oil for a final check on
the entire manuscript.
Among those who provided photographs for this publication are Joe Smith of
FOSS Environmental Services in Seattle, Debra Simcek-Beatty of the National
Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) in Seattle, Ed Owens of Owens
Coastal Consulting in Bainbridge Island, Washington, Al Allen of Spiltec in Wood-
inville, Washington, Hartec Management Consultants in Anchorage, and Oil Spill
Response Limited in Southampton, UK.
The text was edited by Jennifer Charles of Environment Canada’s Emergencies
Science Division. Illustrations were provided by Lauren Forgie of Post-Modern
Designs, Ottawa, Ontario and Paul Perreault, PeRO Design, Arnprior, Ontario.
Many others, too numerous to list here, provided comments, support, advice,
and encouragement and the author gratefully acknowledges their contributions.
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Contents
Chapter 1
Oil Spills: Why Do They Happen and How Often?
Chapter 2
Response to Oil Spills
Chapter 3
Types of Oil and their Properties
Chapter 4
Behaviour of Oil in the Environment
Chapter 5
Detection, Analysis, and Remote Sensing of Oil Spills
Chapter 6
Containment on Water
Chapter 7
Oil Recovery on Water
Chapter 8
Separation and Disposal
Chapter 9
Spill-treating Agents
Chapter 10
In-situ Burning
Chapter 11
Shoreline Cleanup and Restoration
Chapter 12
Oil Spills on Land
Chapter 13
Effects of Oil Spills on the Environment
Glossary
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List of Figures
1. Summary of typical annual Canadian spills
2. Summary of spills into navigable waters
in U.S. (typical annual spills)
3. Statistical summary of sources of oil into the seas worldwide
4. Structure of a typical response organization
5. Chemical compounds in oils
6. Evaporation rates of different types of oil at 15°C
7. Appearance, spreading, and evaporation loss of various oils
spilled on an absorbent surface and in a beaker
8. Comparison of spreading of different oils and fuels
9. Effect of different wind and current directions on the
movement of an oil slick
10. Outputs from a typical spill trajectory model
11. Chromatogram of a light crude oil
12. Appearance of oil on a calm water surface
13. Basic boom construction
14. Typical containment booms
15. Using booms for deflection
16. Configurations for boom deployment
17. Boom failure modes
18. Bubble barrier
19. Improvised dam used as a boom with underflow
20. Improvised boom with underflow
21. Oleophilic skimmers
22. Weir skimmer
23. Suction skimmers
24. Elevating skimmers
25. Submersion skimmer
26. Operating principles of pumps
27. Typical relationship between dispersant amount and sea energy
28. Fire-resistant boom designs
29. Shoreline profiles
30. Penetration of oil into soil
31. Subsurface movement
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List of Tables
1. Major Spills
2. Contents of Typical Contingency Plans
3. Elements of Sensitivity Maps
4. Typical Composition of Some Oils and Petroleum Products
5. Typical Oil Properties
6. Deflection Angles and Critical Current Velocities
7. Performance of Typical Skimmers
8. Performance of Some Sorbents
9. Typical Dispersant Effectiveness
10. Effectiveness and Toxicity of Some Surface-Washing Agents
11. Effectiveness and Toxicity of Some Emulsion Breaking
or Inhibitor Agents
12. Effectiveness and Toxicity of Some Solidifiers
13. Emissions from Burning and Evaporating Oil Slicks
14. Cleanup Techniques and Shoreline Types
15. Properties of Different Oils and their Effect on the Environment
16. Estimated Recovery Times in Various Habitats
17. Cleanup Methods for Surface Land Spills
18. Cleanup Methods for Subsurface Spills
19. Aquatic Toxicity of Water-Soluble Fractions of Common Oils
©2000 by CRC Press LLC
