First day of an oil spill on the open sea: early mass transfers of hydrocarbons to air and water.

Details

Serval ID
serval:BIB_B037D8FC21CA
Type
Article: article from journal or magazin.
Collection
Publications
Institution
Title
First day of an oil spill on the open sea: early mass transfers of hydrocarbons to air and water.
Journal
Environmental Science and Technology
Author(s)
Gros J., Nabi D., Würz B., Wick L.Y., Brussaard C.P., Huisman J., van der Meer J.R., Reddy C.M., Arey J.S.
ISSN
1520-5851 (Electronic)
ISSN-L
0013-936X
Publication state
Published
Issued date
2014
Volume
48
Number
16
Pages
9400-9411
Language
english
Abstract
During the first hours after release of petroleum at sea, crude oil hydrocarbons partition rapidly into air and water. However, limited information is available about very early evaporation and dissolution processes. We report on the composition of the oil slick during the first day after a permitted, unrestrained 4.3 m(3) oil release conducted on the North Sea. Rapid mass transfers of volatile and soluble hydrocarbons were observed, with >50% of ≤C17 hydrocarbons disappearing within 25 h from this oil slick of <10 km(2) area and <10 μm thickness. For oil sheen, >50% losses of ≤C16 hydrocarbons were observed after 1 h. We developed a mass transfer model to describe the evolution of oil slick chemical composition and water column hydrocarbon concentrations. The model was parametrized based on environmental conditions and hydrocarbon partitioning properties estimated from comprehensive two-dimensional gas chromatography (GC×GC) retention data. The model correctly predicted the observed fractionation of petroleum hydrocarbons in the oil slick resulting from evaporation and dissolution. This is the first report on the broad-spectrum compositional changes in oil during the first day of a spill at the sea surface. Expected outcomes under other environmental conditions are discussed, as well as comparisons to other models.
Pubmed
Web of science
Open Access
Yes
Create date
19/09/2014 17:54
Last modification date
20/08/2019 15:19
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