How is an oil spill cleaned up?

Answer 1

There are several steps:

1. The source is eliminated (leaks are stopped)
2. The escaped oil is contained with booms in water, with dams and dykes on land
3. The oil is removed:

• On land by vacuuming followed by excavation of contaminated soil
• At sea by vacuuming with or without absorbants materials, or by collection with skimmers, or by emulsification, or by weathering

Another method is being used with some success where there are enough people and material to sop up the oil in special mats and booms made of natural fibers, like hair. But it is a slow and labor-intensive process that relies mostly on volunteers.

You can help with this type of clean up, too. See the link in the related links section below for information about donations of natural fibers and hair to use in clean up. The web address will take you to the volunteer organization that is coordinating the donations of hair, wool, feathers, and nylons (hosiery), etc. to be used to help make barrier booms and to use in the clean up of beaches, birds, and animals that get oil soaked. The non-profit group will take money for buying the special netting they use in the construction of the booms, or your donations of that netting, too. You can have a "Boom B Q". A boom making party with a Bar B Q.

The site explains and shows how the fiber mats and booms work. It includes a link to a YouTube video on how to make the booms, too.

Answer 2

A sheen is usually dispersed (but not cleaned up) with detergents which makes oil settle to the bottom. Oils that are denser than water, such as Polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs), can be more difficult to clean as they make the seabed toxic.

Methods for cleaning up include:

* Bioremediation: use of microorganisms[5] or biological agents[6] to break down or remove oil

* Bioremediation Accelerator: Oleophilic, hydrophobic chemical, containing no bacteria, which chemically and physically bonds to both soluble and insoluble hydrocarbons. The bioremedation accelerator acts as a herding agent in water and on the surface, floating molecules to the surface of the water, including solubles such as phenols and BTEX, forming gel-like agglomerations. Non-detectable levels of hydrocarbons can be obtained in produced water and manageable water columns. By overspraying sheen with bioremediation accelerator, sheen is eliminated within minutes. Whether applied on land or on water, the nutrient-rich emulsion, creates a bloom of local, indigenous, pre-existing, hydrocarbon-consuming bacteria. Those specific bacteria break down the hydrocarbons into water and carbon dioxide, with EPA tests showing 98% of alkanes biodegraded in 28 days; and aromatics being biodegraded 200 times faster than in nature[7].

* Controlled burning can effectively reduce the amount of oil in water, if done properly.[8] But it can only be done in low wind,[citation needed] and can cause air pollution.[9]

* Dispersants act as detergents, clustering around oil globules and allowing them to be carried away in the water.[10] This improves the surface aesthetically, and mobilizes the oil. Smaller oil droplets, scattered by currents, may cause less harm and may degrade more easily. But the dispersed oil droplets infiltrate into deeper water and can lethally contaminate coral. Recent research indicates that some dispersants are toxic to corals.[11]

* Watch and wait: in some cases, nautural attentuation of oil may be most appropriate, due to the invasive nature of facilitated methods of remediation, particularly in ecologically sensitive areas.[citation needed]

* Dredging: for oils dispersed with detergents and other oils denser than water.

* Skimming: Requires calm waters

* Solidifying[citation needed]

Equipment used includes:[8]

* Booms: large floating barriers that round up oil and lift the oil off the water

* Skimmers: skim the oil

* Sorbents: large absorbents that absorb oil

* Chemical and biological agents: helps to break down the oil

* Vacuums: remove oil from beaches and water surface

* Shovels and other road equipments: typically used to clean up oil on beaches

* Certain Products such as Nokomis 3

Another very labor intensive method is being used with some success where there are enough people and material to sop up the oil in special mats and booms made of natural fibers, like hair. Volunteers are helping in this effort.

You can help with this type of clean up, too. See the link in the related links section below for information about donations of natural fibers and hair to use in clean up. The web address will take you to the volunteer organization that is coordinating the donations of hair, wool, feathers, and nylons (hosiery), etc. to be used to help make barrier booms and to use in the clean up of beaches, birds, and animals that get oil soaked. The non-profit group will take money for buying the special netting they use in the construction of the booms, or your donations of that netting, too. You can have a "Boom B Q". A boom making party with a Bar B Q.

The site explains and shows how the fiber mats and booms work. It includes a link to a YouTube video on how to make the booms, too.

Answer 3

Boats are sent out to skim oil from the surface of the water. Oil floats, so a large portion of the issue is this floating oil. Secondly, oil that makes it to th ebeaches must be manually picked up and wiped from the object it is coating. Animal life needs to be bathed and scrubbed of this oil. Time will help the issue too.

Nature has always made oil slicks and leaked oil into rivers, streams and ocean currents. Nature can survive these smaller attacks with oil. The larger spilling, such as the Exxon Valdez and both Gulf spills take more effort then nature can produce by herself.

Answer 4

There are many methods and the nature of the spill. Small spills from pipelines or barges may be cleaned by use of absorbing material. Special sponges are available to mop up spills. The first step is usually containment using booms.

Offshore spill are more complex. In the Gulf of Mexico, BP employed many means to capture the leaking oil. A well blow out means that there is a continuous flow of oil into the sea. Oil booms have to be deployed early to keep the oil away from beaches. Controlled burning of oil also reduced the amount of oil in the seawater. Skimmers are frequently employed to recover some of the oil. Dispersants will break up an oil spill, and allow the natural processes of degradation to reduce the spill.

The lesson from the BP oil spill, is even in the best situation, significant quantities of the oil will never be cleaned up. In some situation, like the North Sea and Alaska, clean up is limited to the shore line, where the rocks can be partially cleaned through bio-remediation (basically letting bacteria consume the oil).

Answer 5

Spill cleanup for oil and other materials is not a single answer process. There is not a generally applicable "best" way.The methods depend on the specific material spilled, the location of the spill, potential impacts, technology availability, volume of spilled material, weather conditions and many other factors.General methods include stop the emission, contain the spilled material, remove the material for disposal and remediate the damage. Each stage has many options.

Answer 6

You can use sorbents (sponges that absorb oil)

You can also spray the oil

Answer 7

fix the pipes then clean up

Answer 8

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