Oil spill accidents

PAHs arise from natural and/or anthropogenic processes, but usually from the incomplete combustion of fossil fuel and other organic matter. At high temperature, organic compounds are pyrolyzed into unstable fragments, such as radicals, and then recombine to form relatively stable PAHs. Oil spill accidents and wastewater discharge can also be sources of PAHs (WUcke, 2000 Rivas, 2006). 

Kasai Y, Kishira H, Syutsubo K, Harayama S (2001) Molecular detection of marine bacterial populations on beaches contaminated by the Nakhodka oil-spill accident. Environ Microbiol 3 246-255... 

Oil Spill Accident of Tanker Nakhodka, Home page of Fukui Prefecture, http // www.erc.pref.fukui.jp/news/oil.html (1197. 4. 22) [in Japanese]... 

From the above it is evident that the majority of works presented here are in the safe side with EPAHs being in the range of 47-828 ng/g. In case of monitoring sites adjacent to areas of oil spills accidents or heavily industrialized metropolitan areas elevated levels of PAHs were wimessed. 

The stochastic model of navigational safety and oil modeling presented in (Gucma Przywarty 2007) could be applied for the first step of risk management procedure. Oil spill accident can occur in arbitrary moment. Scenarios were simulated for risk of oil spill impact evaluation. Meteorological conditions represent average Baltic Sea conditions. On the base of wind and current data probable situations were formed. The data show simulated pollution zones. 

Now days the devices operating in the radiowave range are designed and they used for oil film thickness measurements and for the oil spills volume evaluation. The device operating on the frequencies from 37,5 to 10,7 begHz provides the measurements of the film thickness in the range from 100 to 6 — 7 pm. It means that all accident happening on the seas surface may be estimated. 

Inflow exceeding outflow can lead to oil pollution if there is inadequate containment. It can lead to fire or explosion and thus to injury by way of creating an oil spill. This type of accident is more time-dependent and lower in magnitude of damage, and thus an even lower level of safety will be acceptable. 

Oil Spills. Oil spills occur from oil pipeline leaks, oil tanker accidents, or submarine oil drilling operations. The two major ocean drilling accidents—oil wells blowing out—were the 1969 Santa Barbara Channel spill and the 1979 Yucatan Peninsula spill, in Mexico. The Yucatan spill spewed out more than three million barrels before being capped in 1980. Both caused damage to beaches and marine life, but the smaller Santa Barbara spill was far more devastating because of unfavorable winds following the accident. 

Two of the main environmental concerns are the atmospheric pollutants generated by ship s engines, and the possibility ol damaging oil spills from accidents and ship operations. 

Tn the last 30 years of the twentieth century, there were very damaging oil spills from the grounding of tankers filled with crude oil. In addition, there have been many smaller accidents, as well as routine operations, that have resulted in significant amounts of oil being released to the environment. 

Oil spill-treating agents may be applied from boats, hydrofoils, aircraft, or helicopters in the case of large-scale pollution. For minor incidents such as car accidents, the application is done by hand. 

Ever since the inception of the petroleum industry the level of fires, explosions and environmental pollution that have precipitated from it, has generally paralleled its growth. As the industry has grown so has the magnitude of its accidental events. Relatively recent events such as the Flixborough incident (1974), Occidental s Piper Alpha disaster (1988), and Exxon s Valdez oil spill (1989) have all amply demonstrated the extreme financial impact these accidents can produce. 

That impression gets of a lot of routine reinforcement from news sources. Chemistry is associated with pollution of the atmosphere by ozone and the noxious oxides of nitrogen and sulfur, oil spills, toxic pesticides and herbicides, smelly oil refineries, undesired food additives, chemical accidents, substances of abuse such as heroin, cocaine, and methamphetamine, and chemical weapons. Chemistry gets a lot of bad ink. 

Description Petroleum resulting from oil spills often pollutes water bodies. Large-scale accidents are also an important cause of pollution along shore lines. The most well-known example is the Exxon Valdez oil spill. 

Between 1985 and 1991,1726 natural gas pipeline ruptures andleakages were reported in the United States. These incidents resulted in 634 injuries and 131 fatalities. Third-party damage was the most common cause of these incidents, followed by corrosion. The GAO believes that the corrosion-related incidents can be reduced with the use of smart pigs (46). U.S. DOT 1992 accident statistics showed that 52.5% of U.S. oil spills involving loss of at least 1590 m3 came from pipeline accidents, comparable to the worldwide statistic of 51.5%. The U.S. DOT regulated 344,575 km of liquids pipelines during the 10-yr study period and received reports on 1901 accidents during that time thus the number of failures per year per 1000 miles was 0.888, of which 27% was due to corrosion and 31% to outside forces (48). 

Pollution from petroleum compounds has been a major concern since the mid-1960s. In 1967 the first major accident involving an oil tanker occurred. The Torrey Canyon ran onto rocks in the English Channel, spilling oil that washed onto the shores of England and France. It is estimated that at least 10,000 serious oil spills occur in the United States each year. In addition, flushing of oil tankers plays a major role in marine pollution. Other sources, such as improper disposal of used oil by private car owners and small garages, further contribute to oil pollution. 

PAHs are released to the environment from a number of sources pyrogenic sources including fossil fuel combustion and pyrolytic processes of organic matter such as incineration and petrogenic sources such as oils spills. Direct oil spilled from stationary sources and accidents cause contamination of land. Oil spills at US Army bases in South Korea is reported as a source of soil and groundwater contamination to nearby area... 

Bottom dredging Oil spills during accidents microbiota... 

In January 1986 in the Ilyichevsk port there was an accident with the tanker Uzhgorod that time 40 tons of fuel oil spilled into the sea spoiling 4 km of beaches. 

In 1999 the Russian tanker Volgoneft-248 carrying 43 000 tons of fuel oil had an accident in the Bosporus, as a result nearly 1 ton of fuel oil spilled into the sea. On September 4, 1999 as a result of the breakup of the vessel Christina Valetta the Laspi Bay became the scene of an environmental disaster. 1.7 tons of oil products were spilled into the sea. The damage incurred to the marine environment was estimated at more than half-a-million US dollars. 

Notwithstanding the high rate of accidents in the area, sea pollution with oil spills during accidents represents only 1% of the total [4]. 

Our society demands a regular supply of fossil fuels. Petroleum is transported from oil-rich countries to the rest of the world. If an oil tanker carrying petroleum has an accident, the resulting oil spill can be disastrous to the environment. 

The discussion above focuses on petroleum hydrocarbons from oil spills, representing just one source of contamination. Marine contaminant surveys are conducted not just in response to tanker accidents, but routinely as a means to assess the quality of the marine environment. Although analytical difficulties with environmental samples persist and... 

Some examples of disastrous oil spills include the following accidents involving oceanic supertankers (1) the Prestige, which split in half off Galicia, Spain in November 2002, spilling about 67,000 tons (61,000 metric... 

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