Oil Spill Monitoring Articles

The “Shipping, Marine and Ports World” has published in its Dec 2012-Jan 2013 issue, an article written by Dr. Helene Gutman (CTO, Xenemetrix Ltd.). The article presents: The use of EDXRF analytical method systems that enable fleet management to optimize bunkering and machine maintenance.   The new sulfur emission regulations for ocean going vessels present a serious challenge ...

Aug. 1, 2017

By Xenemetrix Ltd.

The system combines proven DESMI oil spill containment boom with the Boom Guard Monitoring Buoy, an oil pollution monitoring device used to monitor for the presence of oil pollution within the boom containment area. If oil pollution is detected, the buoy transmits an alert via Iridium satellite in real time. The buoy also monitors location and heading and should the ...

Jun. 26, 2017

By DESMI A/S

The Situation Various processes onboard ships, such as machinery wash-down, maintenance, and leakage, generate oily wastewater. This contaminated water flow collects in the bilge of the ship. Marine diesel, lubricating oils, grease, as well as other contaminants may be present in bilge water. The bilge water is discharged overboard, with oil and grease concentrations in the discharged ...

Mar. 14, 2017

By Turner Designs Hydrocarbon Instruments, Inc.

Liquid cooled engines and rotating equipment use glycol based coolants because of their excellent heat transfer abilities. However, glycol based coolants are not desirable at all in lubrication oil itself – Coolant ingression to the lubricant is a particularly nasty contaminant for the variety of damage it can cause. Glycol coolants break down in the high temperature engine environment, ...

Dec. 17, 2016

By Spectro Scientific

Blooming salts may clean up after brine spills North Dakota's oil boom can have a salty side-effect. Wastewater from oil drilling and hydraulic fracturing – or fracking – is often laden with salts and can spill, contaminating soils. In 2014, for example, 42 such brine spills per week, on average, were recorded in North Dakota. Brine spills introduce so ...

Sep. 28, 2016

By American Society of Agronomy

Through sol-gel and dip-coating processes, commercial polyurethane sponge modified by polysiloxane was fabricated under low temperature (60 °C) and atmosphere. The contact angle of the obtained polysiloxane/polyurethane sponge is 145 ± 5°. Hence, the polysiloxane/polyurethane sponge could float on water and selectively absorb organics from the surface of the water, indicating simultaneous ...

Aug. 9, 2016

By IWA Publishing

The micro-topography feature of a riverine system is a controlling attribute to induce the change of patterns and magnitudes of hyporheic water exchange. The study aims to determine how hyporheic water exchange is affected by the bank curvatures of test points at meter scale. A one-dimensional heat steady-state transport model was applied to determine patterns and magnitudes of vertical ...

Jun. 6, 2016

By IWA Publishing

Safic Technologies, Ltd. - Port Harcourt A pilot study was conducted testing soil samples collected from a pipeline spill. Split samples were sent to Sitelab for EDRO analysis and results were the same. Samples were also sent to a Nigerian lab and a highly reputable lab in the United States for confirmation. After testing the samples a second time, the American lab got better results. ...

Mar. 30, 2016

By Sitelab Corporation

Biosurfactants have been considered as superior alternatives to currently used surfactants as they are generally more biodegradable, less toxic, and better at enhancing biodegradation. However, the application of biosurfactants is limited by the availability of economic biosurfactants and the corresponding producers that can work effectively. Hyperproducers generated by metabolic engineering ...

Jan. 20, 2016

By IWA Publishing

Phenol, chromium, and dyes are continuously dumped into water bodies; the adsorption of these contaminants on activated carbon is a low-cost alternative for water remediation. We synthesized activated carbons from industrial waste of palm oil seed husks (kernel shells), sawdust, and tannery leather scraps. These materials were heated for 24 h at 600, 700 or 800°C, activated at 900°C ...

Sep. 7, 2015

By IWA Publishing

The proposed Energy East pipeline project has raised concerns about potential oil spills in Saint John, New Brunswick. While environmental conditions could pose challenges for using mechanical recovery methods if a spill occurs, chemical dispersant could be an alternative. However, the application of chemical dispersant in shallow water and costal zones remains an issue of debate. Furthermore, ...

Aug. 11, 2015

By IWA Publishing

Raw menhaden fish oil was developed for biomonitoring polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) using fluorescence spectroscopy. Menhaden (Genus Brevoortia) were collected from Delaware Bay, NJ (DBNJ), James River, VA, Vermillion Bay, LA (VBLA) and Barataria Bay, LA (BBLA) in 2010 and/or 2011. Barataria Bay, LA received heavy oiling from the DeepWater Horizon (DWH) oil spill. Method development ...

Apr. 13, 2015

By John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

As 2014 comes to a close and we prepare to celebrate Ensia’s second anniversary this coming February, I wanted to take a moment to reflect on the journey we’ve been on over these past couple of years. In my role as Ensia’s director, I often meet with potential partners, supporters, thought leaders and others. More often than not, one of the first questions I’m ...

Dec. 31, 2014

By Ensia

Oil spills generally cause worldwide concern due to their detrimental effects on the environment and the economy. An assortment of commercial systems has been developed to control these spills, including the use of agricultural wastes as sorbents. This work deals with raw and modified mangrove barks (Rhizophora apiculata), an industrial lignocellulosic waste, as a low cost adsorbent for ...

Oct. 20, 2014

By IWA Publishing

This paper takes a look at the many factors known to have a direct or indirect impact on the quality of oil and the diverse range of different measurement devices have been developed for this purpose, such as relative humidity and absolute water content indicators, particle calculators, dielectric sensors, oxidisation indicators (TAN value), viscosity meters and colour analysers. It explains ...

Jan. 24, 2014

By Kytola Instruments Oy

The Problem: Oil may spill out in the process of oil exploration & development, refining, storage and transportation and enter into open water environment like oceanic environment due to incident or incorrect operation. Oil spill damages include to human heath, safety, ecological environment, aquaculture. In China, the State Oceanic Administration requires the oil content in the discharge to ...

Nov. 14, 2013

By Turner Designs Hydrocarbon Instruments, Inc.

We investigated coupling passive sampling technologies with ultraviolet irradiation experiments to study polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon (PAH) and oxygenated PAH (OPAH) transformation processes in real‐world bioavailable mixtures. Passive sampling device (PSD) extracts were obtained from coastal waters impacted by the Deepwater Horizon oil spill and Superfund sites in Portland, OR. OPAHs were ...

Oct. 4, 2013

By John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

A random walk particle tracking model was used to simulate the motions of oil–mineral–aggregates (OMAs) under hydrodynamic conditions involving wave–induced velocities, random velocities due to turbulence, and the settling velocity due to gravity. Wave–induced and settling velocities for OMAs determined from the application of Stokes's theory and empirical equations derived from experimental data ...

Sep. 12, 2013

By Inderscience Publishers

Fixed filter infrared (IR) analyzers have been used to test oil levels in produced water on off-shore and on-shore drilling platforms for well over 45 years. U.S. EPA methods 418.1 and 413.2 were used extensively on a worldwide basis until the Montreal Protocol called for Freon (the solvent used in the analysis) to be phased out. Infrared analysis using tetrachloroethylene (perchloroethylene) is ...

Aug. 16, 2013

By Spectro Scientific

Background The Arctic Circle encompasses roughly 6% of the earth’s surface. Wetlands make up about 60% of the total Arctic land mass and are the predominant ecosystem, however they are not well defined or understood. Arctic wetlands provide a wide range of ecosystem services such as the maintenance of permafrost, hydrology and water quality. Arctic wetlands have the highest ...

Jul. 11, 2013

By Wetlands International