EGEE 101
Energy and the Environment

Oil (and oil products) Spills

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Oil will seep to the surface and form tar pits, or on the ocean form a small oil slick. These events are natural and occur every day. However, we move large quantities of crude oil and nearly as much in various products (gasoline, jet fuel, etc.) Some spillage due to transportation is going to occur. When it does there are different approaches to cleaning the spill. It comes down to three general approaches: Contain and remove, disperse with chemicals, or do nothing (it will eventually disperse). There are also "spills" as a result of war (First Gulf War), and from drilling, notable the Gulf of Mexico drilling disaster associated with BP's Deepwater Horizon operation. Here is a good article on the relief well that finally stopped the spill. After reading this page you should know how spills are treated and prevented.

 An oil leak reaching the shore.
Picture of an oil leak reaching the shore. Here the oil comes close to shore, where there is a concentration of wildlife.
Credit: EPA
 An off shore drilling location which has caught fire.
Spills can also occur at the drilling location. The oil business remains a dangerous occupation.
Credit: EPA
Picture of workers putting towels on the oil covered water to absorb the oil.
Here man made absorbents are used to collect the oil then it is off to a landfill or to a combustion site. Natural materials such as feathers are also used (fur tends to be hard to obtain!
Credit: EPA
 A boom which is a floating device used as a baracade to stop an oil spill from spreading.
Here a boom prevents the oil from spreading. Some of the booms are even fire retardant. The skirt below the surface and the floatation parts act as a physical barrier. Not as useful in very rough seas.
Credit: EPA
 A dead duck lying on he sand. He is covered in oil.
Birds die for several reasons: drowning (the feathers absorb so much oil the air is displaced resulting in loss of buoyancy), ingesting oil (from preening to remove it), and from hypothermia.
Credit: EPA
 People standing around an oil spill with brooms.
Cleanup tends to be person power intensive and very expensive. The argument comes down to which is cheaper, cleanup or prevention? That debate depends very much on the value you place on environments.
Credit: EPA
  Boats pulling booms to contain an oil spill.
Here the oil can be seen on the surface with booms being used to contain the spill.
Credit: Photo Source
 workers power washing oil off of the shore and into the water.
The cleanup on the shores of Prince William Sound. High-pressure hoses wash the oil from the beach into the water where it is contained by a boom prior to removal.
Credit: Photo Source
  The storage facility for oil which is sorrounded by large containment walls.
Not only is crude oil stored but so are the products. Containment walls prevent jet fuel, gasoline spills from leaving the storage site should the containment vessel fail.
Credit: EPA
 A single hulled tanker which was ripped open.
Double-hulled tankers might have helped prevent an oil spill in this case. Some collisions will produce spills even from double-hulled tankers. Which is safer, all your eggs in few large baskets or many smaller baskets?
Credit: EPA
 A tanker which was involved in a collision.
Shipping lanes are highly congested in many oil exporting areas, collisions are best avoided, as a tanker may require several miles to stop!
Credit: EPA
 A containment area which is sorrounded by containment walls.
Fire at refineries and at storage sites are dangerous to the nearby residents. Containment walls should stop the fire from spreading.
Credit: EPA
 Enormous billows of smoke from an oil spill that was set on fire to remove the pollution.
The fire will help reduce the water pollution at this location but it will produce lots of air pollution. In remote locations (out to sea) fire might be the only choice.
Credit: EPA
 An oil rigger on the north pole.
Some environments are more sensitive than others. Although there is oil in the North Pole area no country owns the land/ice although many maintain a presence there! (Including us Brits!)
Credit: EPA