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Journal of KONES Powertrain and Transport, Vol. 21, No. 3
2014
OPTICAL PROPERTIES OF CRUDE OIL DETECTED IN SEAWATER
Kamila Haule, Henryk Toczek
Gdynia Maritime University Faculty of Marine Engineering
Morska Street 81-87, 81-225 Gdynia, Poland tel.: +48 58 6901588,
+48 58 6901384; fax: +48 58 6901399
e-mail: [email protected], [email protected]
Abstract
The effects of crude oils entering marine environment have been
investigated since early 1960s when oil pollution became a subject
of global environmental concern. Extraction and transportation of
crude oils have been contributing to water pollution especially in
closed water basins, such as the Baltic Sea. It was estimated that
yearly oil input to the Baltic Sea amounts to 21-70 thousands of
tons, which is twice higher than in the North Sea and three times
higher than in the North Atlantic. Growing pollution loads into the
Baltic Sea created a demand for multifarious studies on the
environmental effects of oil products. In this study, we focus on
bio-optical and ecological aspects of the presence of crude oil in
seawater. Dispersed oil droplets occur in seawater as the result of
contaminated river inflows, bilge water discharges and as the
consequence of mechanical and chemical dispersion of oil spills.
Their optical properties depend on oil type, concentration and size
distribution. We present further results obtained from the
developed fluorescence-based method for determination of the crude
oil concentration in natural Baltic seawater and for evaluation of
the oil droplets size by applying vacuum filtering. The results
have been measured for the samples collected in Southern Baltic Sea
during several ship cruises in 2012. We discuss the application of
vacuum filtering in the fluorescence analyses in the context of
laboratory, in situ and remote detection of dispersed oil.
Keywords: crude oil, marine ecology, fluorescence, seawater, oil
pollution 1. Introduction
Journal of KONES Powertrain and Transport, Vol. 21, No. 3
2014
ISSN: 1231-4005 e-ISSN: 2354-0133 ICID: 1133186 DOI:
10.5604/12314005.1133186
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K. Haule, H. Toczek
Fig. 1. Riverine pollution loads (containing land-based oil
products) in the Baltic Sea (HELCOM, 2014, data from 1994-2008)
2. Material and method
Petrobaltic
Romashkino Flotta
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Optical Properties of Crude Oil Detected in Seawater
Fig. 2. Oil pollution endangered areas on the Baltic Sea: main
oil terminals and their volumes and oil rigs (HELCOM, 2014)
2.1. Filtering and extraction of samples
2.2. Fluorescence measurements
3. Results
Optical Properties of Crude Oil Detected in Seawater
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K. Haule, H. Toczek
Fig. 3. Map of stations for sample collection in the Gulf of
Gdansk
Fig.4. Examples of fluorescence spectra of extracted filters
(FS) and filtrates (P) obtained from natural seawater samples
collected in the Southern Baltic Sea
K. Haule, H. Toczek
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Optical Properties of Crude Oil Detected in Seawater
Fig. 5. Upper graphs: Comparison of fluorescence spectra
obtained for extracted filters FS to reference crude oil
extracts: Petrobaltic (PB REF), Romashkino (RU REF) and Flotta
(FL REF), Lower graphs: Comparison of fluorescence spectra obtained
for filtrates P to reference crude oil extracts
4. Discussion
Optical Properties of Crude Oil Detected in Seawater
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K. Haule, H. Toczek
5. Summary
in situ
Acknowledgements
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