Crude oil on its own is not useful but the hydrocarbons it contains on their own are useful and so they need to be separated. They are separated by a process called fractional distillation and this happens in a fractionating column…
Before it was capped, the well 5000 feet (1500 meters) below the sea surface leaked at least 200 million gallons of oil. (Some estimates are far larger.) One tactic BP used was to spray hundreds of thousands of gallons of DISPERSANTS into the gushing clouds of oil and onto surface of the ocean. Dispersants are a mixture of organic solvents and detergents which enable the oil to mix into the water. While this largely succeeded in getting the oil “out of sight, out of mind” by diluting it into a much larger volume of water below the surface, and helped increase of speed of chemical and bacterial breakdown of the oil somewhat, much of the oil is still there, just spread out more, and the dispersants themselves are also quite toxic. The full environmental damage of this spill and its “cleanup” will take years to…
The oil spill was a terrible desaster that occurs when petroleum was accidentally released into the water and the environment. Oil spills normally take place on land and in the ocean. When the oil spills that occurs on land it can be cleaned up quickly if it is caught in a timely manner , the oil spill caused major damage to the environment and can also affect the animals which would cause the animals to get very sick and be very hazardous even dead due to the effects of the oil spill. When oil is leaked released into the water it floats on top of the surface and will after an period of time the oil does spread over the surface and it is then that the water becomes thin.When this happensThe oil spills takes along time to clean up and that’s because the large quanity of petroleum oil that was spilled in the ocean. The problem is that the oil is very thick and that means it will stick to the birds and mammals. All of the animals that come in contact with the the oil they are contaminated having breathing problem and can even get phemonia and cause death to occur. And also make the fish unable to reproduce. and it also affects the oyster beds and wild life.the resources become very limited and costly and an extremely amount of money was lost, due to the fact that the government waited so long to respond. The cause of oil spills is when something or someone accidently spill oil in the ocean. Oysters are one of the main seafoods ordered all over the world.Now everybody see what large impact the oil spill had on the environment and the economy along with the oyster beds.With the oil spill being so horrible and devastating with the fisherman not being able to work the restaurants were not able to get the oysters because of them being contaminated. This devastation cause famailys not to be able to provide for there familys properly.…
Green, J., and Trett, M.W. (1989). The Fate and Effects of Oil in Freshwater. New York, NY: Elsevier Applied Science.…
Discuss techniques used to clean oil spills. Why is it important to begin the cleanup immediately?…
The Gulf Oil Spill took place in the spring of 2010 and is known as one of the most devastating environmental disasters in American history. The Gulf Oil Spill took place on the Deepwater Horizon/BP MC252 drilling platform in the Gulf of Mexico which had an explosion and killed 11 workers and this caused the drilling platform to sink. The explosion caused oil to leak into the Gulf of Mexico and nearly 134 million gallons of oil was released into the Gulf. Oil traveled all the way to the coasts of Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama, and Florida. The marine life was severely depleted; the oil killed marine life, birds, and other animals who depend on the Gulf. This environmental disaster showed some major downsides to globalization, which is the…
Many people do not realize the impact of the oil spills that occur in the ocean. It is like putting water into a heated oil frying substance. It is quite catastrophic. With all the oil spills that have already occurred it is important to help clean ,and prevent oil spills from reoccuring. There is indeed a lot of reasons as to why we should clean and help prevent oil spills from happening but here are the three main reasons. First reason being oil spills cause immense harm to the marine habitats that intern affect the entire ecosystem disrupting its cycle. A second major reason being is all the things that the oil contains and where they go. The third reason we found that plays a major role involving…
There are several processes and techniques on how to remove the oil or extract it. Removing the oil sands from the ground is easy. They are dug out of the ground with huge shovels and dumped in heavy trucks that take them to the processing plant. Here the oil sands are crushed then hot water is added to them which creates a slurry. This slurry now enters a seperating machine. The sands sinks to the bottom and bitumen stays at the top, it is then mixed with solvent and spun. Finally, it can be processed into oil. There is another technique for removing oil that is better for the environment and increases production. It is called the “in situ” technique. This involves injecting steam or solvent into the machine, which seperates the oil from the sand (oil is brought up to surface).One more way of removing oil is a process called upgrading. Upgrading is done in two ways: The first way involves a process called “coking”, which removes carbon, while the second way called hydro-processing adds hydrogen.…
In this case, one of the main clean up procedures used was the application of a chemical dispersant. The chemical dispersant does not actually remove the oil, it breaks it down into small droplets. Another way to remove the oil from the water is by using skimmers. This is a process in which a machine siphons the oil off the top of the water. It is a difficult process because the longer the oil sits on the water the more the viscosity changes. Eventually the oil becomes too thin to siphon off the top and the skimmer takes on more water than…
The Oil Spill, due to the mismanaged oil drilling by British Petroleum (BP), in the Gulf of Mexico, has turned into one of the worst environmental disasters to happen to an ocean ecosystem of all time. Although many people only notice the effects on the hydrosphere, which include the oil going almost a mile deep under the sea, destroying the sediment and rock on the ocean floor, as well as disrupting coastal patterns, many have not realized the drastic effects on the biosphere because of this catastrophic event. The BP oil spill is viewed as the largest decimation of ocean wild life known to man, as well as also killing human lives in the process. Entire ecosystems have been affected in the process, harming animals like whales, dolphins, fish species, pelicans, seagulls, sea turtles, etc., several of which are already endangered. This destruction of wildlife has also lead to a slowdown in many fishing industries, further affecting human life, and causing severe poverty for those who rely on such business to survive. Even if some of the animals did survive, the trauma faced from this experience will lead to reproductive problems, or most likely, death. Even though life is returning back to the Gulf, the damage done can never be replaced, and the area will never be the same.…
What does the safety legislation implemented after the Exxon Valdez oil spill say about the government’s changing role in protecting against environmental hazards and how have the laws since then become stricter?…
Deep sea oil drilling is very hazardous to our environment. If these places are exploited, and the oil burnt, we will be on track for a six degree rise in global average temperatures. Two degrees is generally accepted by scientists and governments as the tipping point of dangerous climate change. The Gulf of Mexico oil spill was terrible and if something went wrong in New Zealand then it would go very wrong. the depth they want to drill in is almost twice the depth of the Gulf of Mexico. For an oil spill to be fixed in the Gulf of Mexico it took a matter of days whereas at nearly twice the depth this would take significantly longer. Tourism is a very large factor in the New Zealand economy. If an oil spill where to occur than at this depth…
In this paper am going to examine the factors contributing to oil spills, and their effects on marine and terrestrial ecosystems. This addition of phytoplankton leads to depletion of oxygen levels in water, making it hard for survival of animal and plant population in the water. These oil spills do not only affect the marine system but also the chronic urban contamination and the economic loss. The oil spill has total effect on marine life despite the distance from the oil spill. The closer the oil spill is to the shoreline, the more damage it causes. The effects are also felt toward the offshore and the coastal environment.…
The recent major oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico, from BP’s Deepwater Horizon, has brought the use and effectiveness of bioremediation back into the news. Recruiting bacteria and other microbes to break down synthetic waste is an immensely appealing idea. Putting microorganisms to work in this manner is the crux of bioremediation (Alcamo, Weeks, 2008). The work to clean up the Horizon spill actually started in the 1800’s when night-soil men would go from house to house and collects sewage; the sewage would then be taken to fields, spread out, and broken down by bacteria. This was the beginning of bioremediation. In the case of oil spills though, modern handling and removal made huge strides with lessons learned from…
The availability of liquid petroleum in the form of crude oil and its refined products is a key driver in modern society, but its widespread use results in accidental and intentional releases resulting to oil spills. These oil spills have created large damages, casualties and losses on both marine and land resources. In addition, oil spills generally take about two to three years to clean…