COVENTRY UNITED

PETROLEUM

PRESENTATION ON OIL SPILL TREATMENT TECHNIQUES

BY

Ugwuezi Nwagbara 5312137

Ekaterina Paravina 6178488

Chenguang Li 6091497

Tejiri Ziregbe 6037336

Onyeka Ufondu6006066

INTRODUCTION

Oil Industry Overview

Oil Spillages

Treatment Techniques

Recommendations

Conclusion

CAUSES OF OIL SPILLAGESOil spill is an accidental release of oil into the environment

Activities that may cause oil spill:

Drilling Rig (Upstream)

Oil transportation by tankers, barges and pipelines (Midstream)

Oil Storage tanks (Midstream & Downstream)

Oil spill incidents are caused by:

Human Errors

Break down of equipment

Natural disasters

Terrorists attacks and vandalism (Daveand and Ghaly 2011)

MECHANICAL TREATMENT

The mechanical concept is the first line of defence against the spread of oil spills (Fingas 2011). There is a number of techniques being used:

Booms

Skimmers

Sorbents

Physical methods

Limitations

Weather conditions

Expensive

Labour intensive

Complex

High HSE risk

MECHANICAL TREATMENT

Sorbents

Skimmer

Booms

Physical Method

CHEMICAL TREATMENTTHE USE OF DISPERSANTS AND GELLING AGENTS ARE THE MAIN CHEMICAL TREATMENT

TECHNIQUES (FINGAS 2011)

Dispersants

Functions

Products

Regulations (quantities)

Limitations

Weather

Water temperature

Possible long term environmental effects

Gelling Agents

Limitations

Not suitable for large scale spill

Requires large quantitates to be effective

Dispersants

Gelling agents in action

THERMAL TREATMENT Thermal treatment is a simple and rapid method of oil

spill remediation by burning the oil in situ (Doerffer 1992), and this requires:

Fire resistant booms

Burning agents

Limitations

Human health

Further ecological problems

Fear of secondary fires

BIOLOGICAL TREATMENT

This method is mainly characterised by the use of organisms (Nomack 2011):

Bacteria

Fungi

Yeast

Limitations:

Slow process

Limited application

RECOMMENDATIONS

In order to effectively manage oil spills, company has to take into consideration the following:

The type of oil

Location of Spill

Government regulations

The types of treatment

Environmental impact

CONCLUSION

When oil spill occurs, its containment and treatment must be swift and effectively deployed to stop further environmental damage. Appropriate equipment, personnel and effective management are crucial components for such operation.

REFERENCES

• Doerffer, J.W. (1992) Oil spill response in the marine environment. 1st edn. Oxford: Pergamon Press Ltd.

• Dave, D. and Ghaly, A.E. (2011) ‘Remediation Technologies for Marine Oil Spills: A Critical Review and Comparative Analysis’ American Journal of Environmental Sciences 7 (5)

• Fingas, M. (2011) Oil Spills Science and Technology. 1st edn. Oxford: Elsevier Inc.

• Nomack, M. (2010) Oil Spill Control Technologies [online] available from <http://www.eoearth.org/view/article/158385/> [7 March 2015]

THANK YOU