Dispersants Bibliography

Abstract
The paper consolidates the findings of a number of projects recently completed at S.L. Ross Environmental Research, Ltd. that provide new information on dispersant use, particularly in the area of vessel-based application systems. Included are discussion of: (1) various advantages that vessel-based systems have over aircraft-based systems in certain spill situations; (2) comparison of application platforms over a range of spill scenarios; (3) recent research on single-nozzle dispersant application systems for use on vessels; and (4) a recent study showing the potential inefficiencies associated with the application of popular modern dispersants in diluted form

Abstract
The Minerals Management Service (MMS), U.S. Department of the Interior, operates a wave tank facility in Leonardo, New Jersey known as OHMSETT (Oil and Hazardous Material Simulated Environmental Test Tank), which is used primarily for testing oil spill booms and skimmers. This paper summarizes two studies undertaken to examine the feasibility of testing dispersants at the facility as well. The first study included: (1) interfacial tension laboratory tests, (2) turbidity tests, (3) laboratory test to evaluate filtering materials for removing dispersant and chemically dispersed oil, and (4) full-scale evaluation testing at OHMSETT. The results indicated that dispersant testing at OHMSETT could be done with good success if the testing program were carefully designed and implemented. It was determined that a number of dispersant tests could be conducted over several days, after which the tank water would have to thoroughly cleaned to remove dispersed oil (with a cellulose-based filter) and dispersant (with an activated carbon system). Following the feasibility study, the project moved to the second study, namely the design and validation of an experimental protocol for dispersant effectiveness testing at the facility. Full-scale tank work was conducted in April 2000. Preliminary results, provided in this paper, indicated that OHMSETT is an attractive facility for determining dispersant effectiveness

Abstract
Advantages in using vessel-based application systems over aerial application methods are described in this report. Some benefits of vessel-based application are cost, availability, better spray control, accuracy, and one-pass dosing of thick oil slicks. Other topics discussed in this report include design improvements for vessel-based systems and comparisons of the logistics for vessel-based systems versus aircraft

Abstract
Dispersant use is a factor that may partly determine the fate and effects of spilled oil. A series of quantitative field experiments has been initiated to simulate conditions following nearshore treatment of a floating oil slick or following the cleaning of a spill stranded on the shore. The basic experimental design is a series of treatments (Forties or Nigerian crude oil, BP 1100WD dispersant, or oil plus dispersant) applied to sets of experimental plots in a range of intertidal and subtidal communities. Biological recording includes frequency and density measurements of plants and animals, and hydrocarbon analysis is by capillary gas liquid chromatography and computerised gas chromatography-mass spectrometry. Additionally, the effects of dispersant on the movement and fate of oil in different types of sediment is being investigated using a laboratory sediment column and controllable temperature seawater system. The columns have been successfully used in the modeling of low-energy sedimentary environments. Particular attention has been paid to the nature of water table fluctuations within the sediment, to grain size and sorting, to permeability, and also to the number of simulated “tides” that the columns experience after treatment. Hydrocarbon analysis is primarily by ultraviolet spectrophotometry, which has the advantage that the large number of samples generated by each experimental run can be quickly analysed. Gas liquid chromatography is used for checking selected samples. Preliminary results from the field and laboratory experiments indicate that some dispersant treatments increase penetration of oil, and that it may be retained below the sediment surface. Interacting factors include time of treatment in relation to tidal cycle and behavior of the water table in the sediment

Abstract
Governments and industry, both national and international, contend that dispersants are an effective and practical response option under certain circumstances. However, a comprehensive training and education program in dispersant operations used to establish a baseline of understanding between responders and stakeholders is lacking. Dispersant operations have played a positive and significant role on numerous oil spills in both national and international waters, yet a curriculum in dispersant operations remains a minor component of oil spill response course curricula. This may suggest that decision makers, responders and ultimately the public and environment are being shortchanged of alternative response technology training and education, which essentially fails to meet the needs of regional response teams, area committees, natural resource trustees, and the general oil spill response community’s future decision makers. Supported through case study analyses and critical argumentation, this paper presents an oil spill dispersant operations curriculum that governments and industry, both national and international, can adopt