Coastal development, hydrocarbon

This project was undertaken to identify petroleum hydrocarbon contcunination resulting from coastal development activities in the Charlotte Harbor estuarine system located on the Southwest Florida coast (Figure 1). The overall goal was to assess present petroleum contamination emd to provide baseline data to prove the extent and duration of additional impact from future coastal development and oil spills. 

PIERCE ET AL. Hydrocarbon Contamination from Coastal Development 231... 

Characterization of petroleum contamination from certain land use activities and frcxn biogenic sources has provided information for assessing impact from continued coastal development activities and to assess the duration and extent of impact in the event of a major oil spill in the areas studied. However, time series samples are needed to establish rates of hydrocarbon input and degradation. 

Trans Coastal Marine Services (formerly Envirosystems, Inc.) and Louisiana State University (LSU) have developed several bioreactor systems to facihtate petroleum hydrocarbon mineralization and the bioremediation of organic wood preservatives utilizing an immobilized microbe bioreactor (IMBR) technology. These technologies can treat petroleum hydrocarbons, chlorinated solvents, pesticide-contaminated soils, and contaminated groundwater. 

Various workers have assembled relatively complete assessments of the annual input of the major biological nutrients (C, N, P), certain heavy metals (Mn, Cd, Pb, Cu), and petroleum hydrocarbons to Narragansett Bay. Other studies have developed inventories of the amounts of these materials in the sediments of the Bay. We have brought these data together with information on sediment accumulation rates in the Bay to determine the degree to which this one estuary serves as a sink for different types of materials in their passage between land and the coastal ocean. 

Zeng, E.Y., D. Tsukada, and D.W. Diehl. 2004. Development of solid-phase microextraction-based method for sampling of persistent chlorinated hydrocarbons in an urbanized coastal environment. Environ. Sci. Technol. 38 5737-5743. 

The strong waves that develop during storms create serious obstacles for practical activities in the sea and on the coasts, such as dangers for navigation, destruction of coastal constructions, and, recently, from losses at the prospecting and extraction of hydrocarbon resources. In some cases, the storm activity is enhanced by local winds owing to the orographic effects. 

STAR [STeam Active Reforming] A catalytic reforming process for converting aliphatic hydrocarbons to olefins or aromatic hydrocarbons. Hydrocarbons containing five or fewer carbon atoms are converted to olefins. Those containing six or more are dehydrocyclized to aromatic hydrocarbons. The reactions take place in the vapor phase, in a fixed catalyst bed, in the presence of steam. The catalyst is platinum/tin alloy on zinc calcium aluminate. Developed by Phillips Petroleum Company. The first commercial plant was built for Coastal Chemicals in Cheyenne, WY, in 1992 another was built for Polibutenos Argentinos in 1996. The process is now offered by Uhde. 

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