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Oil Pollution
Published in Michael J. Kennish, Ecology of Estuaries: Anthropogenic Effects, 2019
Estuarine and marine biota are impacted by polluting oil either indirectly via the degradation of critical habitat areas or directly via the toxic effects of water-soluble components of crude oils and refined products on individuals in populations. In addition, the application of chemical dispersants, solvents, and agents that reduce surface tension and facilitate the removal of oil slicks from the water surface,6 may also be toxic to estuarine and marine life. While some workers implicate the toxicity of oil dispersants as the primary culprit in ecological damage associated with oil spills,4 others point to laboratory findings that reveal lower acute lethal toxicities of dispersants currently in use than crude oils and their refined products.6
Oil Spill Topic Map
Published in Yejun Wu, Oil Spill Impacts, 2016
Yejun Wu, Amanda Lehman, David J. Dunaway
Be associated with Acute symptoms of toxicity “Acute toxic effects are associated with exposure to VOCs and oil dispersants” (Sathiakuma, 2010).
Insights into Biotechnological Approaches for Treatment of Petroleum Refinery Effluents
Published in Gunjan Mukherjee, Sunny Dhiman, Waste Management, 2023
Environmental pollution of hydrocarbons is an extremely significant problem since petroleum TPHs are harmful to all types of life. Pollution with crude oil is highly prevalent due to its massive consumption worldwide in addition to the associated improper disposal procedures and accidental oil spills. Petroleum is a complicated mixture, which includes saturated and ramified alkanes, alkenes, naphthenes, aromatics, naptheno-aromatics, high molecular weight aromatic molecules such as resins, asphalt and hydrocarbons which contain various functional moieties such as carboxylic acids, ethers, etc. Petroleum is transformed into several fractions, involving light oil, kerosene, naphtha, gasoline, waxed oil and tar. The light hydrocarbon fractions are distilled at the normal atmospheric pressure and are referred to as “light ends”, whereas heavy fractions such as asphaltenes and waxed oil are designated as “heavy ends”. The light hydrocarbon fraction consists of saturated and unsaturated hydrocarbons, naphthenes, and small proportion of aromatic compounds. On the contrary, the heavy hydrocarbon fraction includes alkenes, high molecular weight aromatic compounds, organometallic molecules, and alkanes. Some by-products produced through petroleum refining are extremely hazardous. These noxious constituents can be intentionally or unintentionally discharged into the environment causing adverse negative impacts. Even though petroleum products contain a high number of hydrocarbons, only some compounds are characterized for their toxicity. Crude oil dispersants and chemicals pose versatile toxicological health issues for humans and wildlife, depending on levels of susceptibility and exposure periods. The highly toxic chemicals in crude oil can harm organs in human body such as the nervous system, immune system, respiratory system, reproductive system, circulatory system, sensory system, endocrine system, kidney and liver (Abha and Singh 2012). Petroleum hydrocarbons cause haemotoxicity (damage of erythrocytes), cancer induction (capability to cause cancer), genotoxicity (capacity to cause damage to DNA), mutagenicity (potential for incidence of genetic mutations), teratogenicity (malformation to fetus), cytotoxicity (cell toxicity), neurotoxicity (lethal to nervous system), immunotoxicity (potential to suppress the immune system), hepatotoxicity (liver destruction), nephrotoxicity (kidney impairment), cardiotoxicity (impairment to heart muscles) and ocular toxicity (induction of eye syndromes) (Azeez et al. 2015, Lawal 2017). Table 2 describes the health effects, which commonly occur upon short-term and long-term exposure to petroleum hydrocarbons.
The effect of asphaltene molecular characteristic on the instability of Kuwaiti crude oils
Published in Petroleum Science and Technology, 2022
Muhieddine A. Safa, Shayan Enayat, Abeer M. Rashed, Mohammad Tavakkoli, Ebtisam F. Ghloum, Ridha Gharbi, Sriram Santhanagopalan, Francisco M. Vargas
To limit the effect of asphaltene deposition in oilfields, oil-producing companies tend to carry out 3 types of treatments (e.g. solvent, dispersant-solvent, and oil-dispersant-solvent), which are typically either continuously injected at trace amounts or injected at specific periods in order to stabilize asphaltene cuts in oil and mitigate the precipitation process (Akbarzadeh et al. 2007; Khaleel et al. 2015). To this date, there is no versatile commercial type of product or methodology to reduce or completely eradicate the asphaltene deposition problem in wellbores and nearby regions (Karambeigi, Nikazar, and Kharrat 2016; Melendez-Alvarez et al. 2016). Given the growth of oil demand and the diminishing quality of crude oil reserves, it is highly essential to exploit novel and advanced technologies and methodologies to enhance crude oil production globally through the mitigation of asphaltenes precipitation and deposition phenomena (Karambeigi and Kharrat 2014; Kuang et al. 2019).
The current state of knowledge for toxicity of corexit EC9500A dispersant: a review
Published in Critical Reviews in Environmental Science and Technology, 2019
Kevin M. Stroski, Gregg Tomy, Vince Palace
Studies into potential exposure effects of dispersants to higher level organisms including amphibians, birds, and aquatic mammals are currently very limited. Preliminary studies on frog embryos (X. laevis) and sperm whale skin cells (P. microcephalus) found low Corexit toxicity levels (>100 ppm). (Smith et al., 2012; Wise et al., 2014). A study done on mallard duck eggs (A. platyrhynchos) showed moderate toxicity (15 ppm), however, the applicability of this study toward Corexit use is limited as high exposures to bird eggs are unlikely due to dispersant use near shores being restricted (Wooten et al., 2012). Bottlenose dolphins (Tursiops truncates) are another organism which was impacted by the DWH spill and studies related to overall health and to oil/Corexit mixture exposures have been published (Schwacke et al., 2014; White, Godard-Codding, Webb, Bossart, & Fair, 2017). Similar to lower organisms, the oil/dispersant mixture showed more significant effects compared to oil alone, however, no study has directly measured the effects that Corexit itself might have on dolphins (White et al., 2017). Work done on rats and mice may shed some light on potential toxic effects toward marine mammals like dolphins and whales (Table 2), the results of which show that potential maximum exposure levels (9–46 ppm) may be much less than the LC50 levels for many of the cell types studied (70–100 ppm) (Chen & Reese, 2016; Prince, 2015; Zheng et al., 2014). The work done on higher level organisms seems to suggest low toxicity concerns for Corexit toward these species, however, given the small sample size of studies conducted, strong conclusions cannot be drawn at this time.
Enhanced marine monitoring and toxicity study of oil spill dispersants including Corexit EC9500A in the presence of diluted bitumen
Published in Journal of Environmental Science and Health, Part A, 2020
Pamela Brunswick, Ceara Y. MacInnis, Jeffrey Yan, Craig Buday, Ben Fieldhouse, Carl E. Brown, Graham van Aggelen, Dayue Shang
In today’s media, the recognition of the negative impacts of fossil fuel use is prominent. Efforts are already underway to source alternatives; not an easy task, given that petroleum products are so common and exist in every corner of society. When one considers the multi-faceted use of petroleum energy and products in our homes, hospitals, buildings, clothing, packaging, and electronic products, there is little doubt that the need for petroleum will continue for some time. Hand in hand with this production, is the need for petrochemical transportation to refineries and processing plants, together with the associated risk for spills to occur, and the concurrent need for clean-up countermeasures and monitoring. Oil spill countermeasures in surface water and marine environments routinely employ containment booms and skimmers, although oil recovery can be hampered by fast moving currents and weather conditions. Furthermore, the physical techniques may not be sufficient to address the bulk oil of larger spills. In such cases, application of oil spill dispersants and in situ burns are viable response options. The in situ burns are less favored, due to the resulting significant pollution from volatile organics, polyaromatic hydrocarbons, polychlorinated dibenzo-para-dioxins (PCDDs), polychlorinated dibenzofurans (PCDFs), and particulates.[1] Following the Deepwater Horizon oil spill in 2010 and the large volume of spill dispersants applied in that case, research has focused on the corresponding potential effects of oil spill dispersant application. The hydrocarbons and detergent compounds contained in dispersants promote the oil’s transition into the water column for biodegradation.[2–4] A debate regarding efficacy and toxicology of application of oil spill dispersants in relation to the bioavailability of toxins from oil/dispersant combinations is ongoing.[5–11]