Background Research
Big Picture
chemical reaction
Concepts
oil is hard to remove: Oil bond to its surrounding really quickly, so it is hard to remove it.
Keywords and Units
mL
aquatic life
C36H74
Background
The general formula for oil is C36H74, but it is said that the compound for oil may vary because it came form the ground which is a mixture of many different things, and when it is extracted from the land, oil is separated into a lot of different parts. Oil floats above water because it is less dense then water, and it can be mixed with water only when there is soap involve.
The following is the research paper that can inform you about oils and ways to clean up oil spills:
Bubbles! Soap is used to clean oil from your dishes, but how can you remove oil from a liquid surface? Oil is a substance that is hard to remove from any surface, but it is especially hard to clear it from another liquid, and that is why oil spills are so darn hard to clean up. By knowing the best way to clean oil up, we can all be a part in helping the environment, especially the unknown depth of the oceans and seas. Because all oil spills are unique, the way to clean them up differs between a combination of methods under three categories: naturally, chemically, and mechanically.
Oil is made up of various components and vary greatly from one source to the next; therefore, it is hard to predict the type of oil that will be spilt and plan ahead. Most petroleums are identified as a dark brown, almost black, liquid, but this is not always true. Crude oil can appear from the normal, dark brown to a greenish or yellowish color. Some petroleum found can also be very dense versus the normal runny liquid state most people assume oil is always in. A company in the U.K. states that the key components of petroleum are: carbon (93% - 97%), hydrogen (10% - 14%), nitrogen (0.1% - 2%), oxygen (1% - 1.5%), sulphur (0.5% - 6%), and a very, very small trace of metal. In petroleum there exist an amount of hydrocarbons, which is the reason why oil is so flammable, and the most common types that appears are: paraffins (15% - 60%), naphthenes (30% - 60%), aromatics (3% - 30%), and asphaltics (the remaining percentages) ("An Introduction to Petroleum"). The most common type of oil people know of are cooking oil and fuel. These are composed of light, not so dense petroleum. The denser, and “harder” petroleum is usually used to create plastic, but lately the fluffy oil is running out, so oil companies are trying to convert this into fluffy oil by removing carbon atoms and replace it with hydrogen atoms, but this cost a lot and therefore is not efficient ("An Introduction to Petroleum").
As soon as the oil hits the water surface, nature began it’s work at disintegrating it. The ocean slowly “burns” this “fuel.” The more exposure to the sun and the warmer the water is, the quicker the oil slick will decompose. Just within days, 20% - 40% of the slick’s mass will be turned into gases. What is left are the “excessives,” AKA the hydrocarbons. They will clump together then wash ashore or wash out to sea. Either way, the remains are going to seep into the sediments or sink to the bottom of the sea and where it decomposing will come to a halt due to the lack of oxygen ("How Oil Breaks Down in Water").
Sea life is sensitive to oil spills because it changes the undersea experience. The petroleum partially covers up the sunlight that the sea plants need which, in turn, reduces the underwater food source that will lead to a reduction of the sea population. Oil also pollutes the water and can clog up fishes’ gills which will suffocate them to their death. Overall, it just throws the balance of sea life off which Mother Nature does not like.
Marine biologists sometimes use chemical and biological agents to speed up the process. They are most commonly used to prevent the spread of the spill and speed up the breaking down process ("Response Techniques | Emergency Management | US EPA"). Chemicals can not be use all the time because of the sensitivity of the area. Bacterias are released to eat the oil up faster, but its effectiveness depends on the type of bacteria and the environment that it is working in ("How Do You Clean up an Oil Spill?"). It is extremely helpful but involves a lot of factors of consideration before it can be applied to the affected area. Every minor detail should be considered before uses of dispersants and biological agents because it can be very harmful to the environment even though it maybe be useful to speed up the clean up. Marine biologists must always decide what is best for the organisms of the area before uses and therefore this is one of their major headaches. Chemically uses are generally used with mechanical means ("Response Techniques | Emergency Management | US EPA").
Mechanically, marine biologists just scoops up the oil, but they also have their equipments. Boomers are floating lines that droop a “curtain” below the water surface to keep the oil spill to spread to sensitive areas ("How Do You Clean up an Oil Spill?"). It also keeps the affected area at its smallest possible amount. Skimmers are used to do the actual scooping. It collects the oil and store it ("Response Techniques | Emergency Management | US EPA"). Skimmers actually skim on the surface of the oil and just sucks as much oil as it can ("How Do You Clean up an Oil Spill?"). Together, they are incredibly effective, but it is a bit harder to work in high winds ("How Do You Clean up an Oil Spill?"). They also use absorbent substances to, obviously, absorbs the oil. This allows the marine biologists a more solid, easier to see substance to remove.
Of course all of these can be used together which will remove the oil slicks quicker than ever, but all of these have a certain level of efficiency depending on the environment and a certain risk on different environments. If the marine biologists can just use at least a combination of two of the methods, the cleanup process would be a lot faster. Though, even that is hard. Some environments are just too sensitive to everything and it can not be helped because of its fragility. When the marine biologists decide on what to do they must first ask a few questions:
What kind of organisms live in this area?
How does oil affect them?
How is the surrounding climate?
Can these organisms withstand these chemicals?
What is the best “combination” to use to clean this place?
Is the oil dense or not?
What are the components of this type of petroleum?
Only after that will the marine biologists get a vague idea of what to do. They must always consider all sides of the situation. Even when it seems impossible, a marine biologist must never give up.
Petroleum is a vague “substance.” It is as defined as what made up plastic. To clean up oil, there are three overall methods. With all of its ups and downs, these methods speed up the process of cleaning up the bright, blue sea and restore the beautiful environment. Knowing these methods can help us in our everyday life of cleaning, and it allows us to have a head start into helping the world into a better and cleaner place.
This was original written for an English assignment, but it is written by me.