Oil Spills in Coastal Areas:Prevention and Control

Victoria BrojeBren School of Environmental Science and Management

University of California, Santa Barbara

Oil spill modeling

Oil spill location and properties depend on:

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Oil spill modelingOil spill location and properties depend on:

• Initial oil/oil product properties (Chemical composition, density, viscosity, pour point, flash point, maximum water uptake, etc)

• Environmental conditions (Air and sea temperature, wind speed, currents, wave height, water salinity, water sediment load, presence of ice etc.)

• Release conditions (instantaneous, continuous, contained, surface, underwater spill)

• Amount of oil spilled

• Response options

Oil spill modeling – Why even bother?

Application for oil spill modeling:

• Environmental risk assessment for offshore oil fields development.

• Contingency planning.

• Estimation of environmental impact.

Oil spill modeling

What we want to know:

• Where is it? – Hydrodynamic model

• How does it look like? – Oil weathering model

Oil spill modeling Oil Weathering Model:

• density

• viscosity

• evaporation rate

• dispersion rate

• water content

• pour point

• flash point

• spreading rate

• Properties prediction

• Budget graph

• Response efficiency

• Affected areas and species

Hydrodynamic Model

• location

• surface exposure

• amount of stranded oil

• concentration in the water column

Response Actions Model

• amount of oil dispersed

• collected

• burned

Output:

Oil spill modeling

Some equations used for oil weathering modeling (ADIOS model):

Evaporation:

Oil spill modeling

Evaporation:

Oil spill modeling

Dispersion rate:

Oil spill modeling

Dispersion rate:

Oil spill modeling

Emulsification:

Oil spill modeling

Emulsification:

Oil spill modeling

Density:

Oil spill modeling

Density:

Oil spill modeling

Viscosity:

Oil spill modeling

Viscosity:

Oil spill modeling

Spreading:

Oil spill modeling

Spreading:

Oil spill modeling

Spreading

(OWM):

Oil spill modeling - ADIOS

Instantaneous release:

1000 bbl of• Brent Blend

• Coal Oil Point

at sea temperature of 15ºC

at wind speed of 15 m/s

Oil spill modeling - ADIOS

Brent Blend – Coal Oil Point

Brent Blend – Coal Oil Point

Brent Blend – Coal Oil Point

Brent Blend – Coal Oil Point

Brent Blend wind speed 2m/s – wind speed 15m/s

Brent Blend wind speed 2m/s – wind speed 15m/s

Laboratory modelingEvaporation simulation

Laboratory modeling

Emulsification simulation

a) b)a) Emulsification of Kyrtael crude and its residues at 11C

b) Emulsification of Bolshepurgovskaya crude and its residues at 11C (from left to the right: 250C+, 200C+, 150C+, crude)

OSCAR model

OSCAR model

OSCAR model

OSCAR model

OSCAR model

OSCAR model

OSCAR model