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Dispersant Effectiveness of Crude, Refined and Synthetic Oil Under Different Environmental Conditions

Nagarajan, Kavitha Rani

Abstract Details

2008, MS, University of Cincinnati, Engineering : Environmental Engineering.
Dispersants reduce the net environmental damage caused by the oil spills. USEPA is developing an EPA Research Object-Oriented Oil Spill model (ERO3S) to simulate a portion of the oil slick behavior. This work is in an effort to collect the dispersant effectiveness data of three oils, Purdue Bay Crude Oil (PBC), South Louisiana Crude Oil (SLC) & Number Two Fuel Oil (2FO) with two dispersants C9500 (A) & SPC1000 (B) and to understand the effect of the operating parameters on the effectiveness of dispersion. The first part of this work involved the collection of dispersant effectiveness data at 27°C for the three oils and two dispersants mentioned above at three salinities 10, 20 & 34 ppt and three mixing energies 150, 200 and 250 rpm. The data collected were incorporated with other data collected at other temperatures (5, 10, 16, 22, and 35 0C) during the previous years in our laboratories for developing an empirical model. Statistical analysis of the data was conducted to form an empirical correlation and understand the effect of the operating parameters on the dispersant effectiveness. A sensitivity analysis was conducted to determine the extent to which the variables affected the dispersant effectiveness. The empirical approach to the interaction between the dispersant and oil slick developed could provide a useful or practical approach for including dispersants in a model to assess the impacts of dispersant usage on oil spills. The second part of the work involved the formulation of synthetic oil containing Alkanes (C11-C18) alone or four Poly Aromatics Hydrocarbons (Naphthalene, Phenanthrene, Fluorene and Dibenzothiophene) alone to determine the dispersant effectiveness data for each component with dispersant A at three salinities 10, 20 and 34 ppt, three mixing energies 150, 200 and 250 rpm and six levels of temperature (5, 10, 16, 27, and 35 0C). Statistical analysis was conducted to form an empirical correlation and Analysis of Variance was performed on the data collected. The third part of this work involved the formulation of the synthetic oil containing a mixture of PAHs and alkanes obtained by the using the same concentrations used in the second part. The dispersant effectiveness data collected for each component was used to determine if the presence of each component in the mixture affected the dispersant efficiency of the individual components at 27°C under similar environmental conditions. Statistical analysis was conducted to correlate the individual dispersant efficiencies of each PAH & alkane and the overall dispersant efficiency of the South Louisiana Crude Oil which was the basis for the composition of the synthetic oil.
George Sorial (Committee Chair)
Makram Suidan (Committee Co-Chair)
Kupferle Margaret (Committee Co-Chair)
425 p.

Recommended Citations

Citations

  • Nagarajan, K. R. (2008). Dispersant Effectiveness of Crude, Refined and Synthetic Oil Under Different Environmental Conditions [Master's thesis, University of Cincinnati]. OhioLINK Electronic Theses and Dissertations Center. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=ucin1226632486

    APA Style (7th edition)

  • Nagarajan, Kavitha Rani. Dispersant Effectiveness of Crude, Refined and Synthetic Oil Under Different Environmental Conditions. 2008. University of Cincinnati, Master's thesis. OhioLINK Electronic Theses and Dissertations Center, http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=ucin1226632486.

    MLA Style (8th edition)

  • Nagarajan, Kavitha Rani. "Dispersant Effectiveness of Crude, Refined and Synthetic Oil Under Different Environmental Conditions." Master's thesis, University of Cincinnati, 2008. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=ucin1226632486

    Chicago Manual of Style (17th edition)