Viewpoint Cite This: Environ. Sci. Technol. 2018, 52, 14029−14030
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An Opportunity Lost? Research on Alternative Oil Spill Response Technologies Requires Active Engagement with the Professionals Roger C. Prince* Stonybrook Apiary, Pittstown, New Jersey 08867, United States rather than the critical issues that constrain the cleanupprocess. Two examples serve to illustrate the problem: sorbents and dispersants.
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SORBENTS The scale of major oil spills means that sorbents3 can only play a minor role in cleanup operations. Sorbents are used on land and confined surface waters, but not on the open sea.4 Loose sorbents work well for spills on dry hard surfaces, but maritime use requires the sorbent both have a substantial preference for absorbing oil over water, and be deployed in booms or sheets that can be retrieved. Research that merely develops a new sorbent without testing it as it would be deployed in a real spill is very unlikely to help responders, even if it results in a paper that receives numerous citations. For example, the obvious benefits of sorbents exhibiting very large surface areas must be balanced against their structural integrity, because the release of oiled particles or fibers into the marine environment would be unacceptable. Sorbent booms are important for protecting especially sensitive sites, but given the existing stockpiles of effective equipment,4 a new product would have to be markedly better to be considered. And at the end of the day, no matter how effective, sorbents will not be an important part of efforts to address large oil spills. When they are used, they increase the amount of waste material that must be handled and do nothing to stimulate biodegradation, the major process that actually removes oil from the environment.
M
ajor marine oil spills (Figure 1) rightly garner the public’s attention; oil slicks threaten the lives of charismatic birds and animals and the beauty of shorelines. They disrupt the fishing and hospitality industries, and unsettle the lives of many. Expectations that everything will return to normal by the next news broadcast, or at least in the next few days, are invariably disappointed, and initial responders always seem overwhelmed. Not surprisingly, many researchers want to help, and our community ought to be among the leaders in such efforts, providing expert advice and helping to develop new or improved response options. Alas, much of the effort and investment of public and private research funding results in publications that have little chance of being put into practice. One reason that our community’s research often fails to have an impact is that many researchers are not fully aware of the substantial resources already available for oil-spill response, the accumulated knowledge on successes and failures gained over the past 50 years, and the general complexity of oil spill cleanup.1 Professional organizations stand ready to respond to oil spills on short notice, and they have to balance the efficacy of a technology with its feasibility of deployment, the capabilities of available equipment, and worker safety. In the United States these organizations are mandated by the Oil Pollution Act (1990), and about 800 Oil Spill Removal Organizations stand ready around the country.2 Because our research community has little interaction with this enormous reservoir of accumulated expertise, it tends to pursue mirages © 2018 American Chemical Society
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DISPERSANTS When it is recognized that oil cannot be collected in booms and skimmed or burnt, responders turn to dispersants to get oil off the water surface. They can rapidly treat large spills because they can be applied by air. This protects birds and shorelines and dramatically stimulates biodegradation, but in some circumstances might harm fisheries.5 Current products have been refined since their introduction in the early 1970s,6 and after extensive study their properties are well understood. They are applied far from land at a notional rate of 5 gal/acre (47 L/ Ha; a teaspoon for every 10 square feet), with appropriate personal protective equipment (PPE) for workers who might come in contact with the product. Substantial exclusion zones are established around vessels and marine mammals during deployment. While of course dispersants are not entirely benign, their acute toxicity to marine life is similar to that of common dishwashing liquids,7 their acute toxicity to mammals is comparable to that of ethanol,8 and they are promptly biodegraded once applied.9 Since it is well understood that the Received: November 12, 2018 Published: November 29, 2018 14029
DOI: 10.1021/acs.est.8b06390 Environ. Sci. Technol. 2018, 52, 14029−14030
Viewpoint
Environmental Science & Technology
Figure 1. Oil from the Deepwater Horizon tragedy spreads through part of the fleet of response vessels on May 26, 2010. (Ocean Imaging/Jan Svejkovsky). (2) United States Coast Guard Response Resource Inventory System. 2018, https://cgrri.uscg.mil/UserReports/ OSROPOCReport.aspx. (3) USEPA Sorbents 2018, https://archive.epa.gov/emergencies/ content/learning/web/html/sorbents.html. (4) CEDRE Use of Sorbents for Spill Response - Operational Guide − 2018, https://wwz.cedre.fr/en/content/download/1776/140008/ file/extract-sorbents.pdf. (5) Prince, R. C. Oil spill dispersants: boon or bane? Environ. Sci. Technol. 2015, 49, 6376−84. (6) Canevari, G. Oil slick dispersant and method. 1974, US Patent US3,793,218. (7) Word, J. Q.; Clark, J. R.; Word, L. S. Comparison of the acute toxicity of Corexit 9500 and household cleaning products. Hum. Ecol. Risk Assess. 2015, 21, 707−25. (8) George, S. E.; Nelson, G. M.; Kohan, M. J.; Warren, S. H.; Eischen, B. T.; Brooks, L. R. Oral treatment of Fischer 344 rats with weathered crude oil and a dispersant influences intestinal metabolism and microbiota. J. Toxicol. Environ. Health, Part A 2001, 63, 297−316. (9) Brakstad, O. G.; Størseth, T. R.; Brunsvik, A.; Bonaunet, K.; Faksness, L.-G. Biodegradation of oil spill dispersant surfactants in cold seawater. Chemosphere 2018, 204, 290−293. (10) Barron, M. G.; Hemmer, M. J.; Jackson, C. R. Development of aquatic toxicity benchmarks for oil products using species sensitivity distributions. Integr. Environ. Assess. Manage. 2013, 9, 610−615. (11) USEPA National Contingency Plan Subpart J, 2018, https:// www.epa.gov/emergency-response/national-contingency-plansubpart-j. (12) Lee, K.; Nedwed, T.; Prince, R. C.; Palandro, D. Lab tests on the biodegradation of chemically dispersed oil should consider the rapid dilution that occurs at sea. Mar. Pollut. Bull. 2013, 73, 314−318. (13) International Oil Spill Conference. 2018, http://iosc.org/. (14) AMOP 2018, https://www.canada.ca/en/environment-climatechange/services/science-technology/arctic-marine-oilspill-program. html.
toxicity of dispersed oil comes from the oil, not from the dispersant,10 research at finding “nontoxic” dispersants is doomed to irrelevance. Even if research were to lead to a significantly more-effective dispersant, the expense of getting it licensed on the National Contingency Plan,11 and the investment in the enormous current stockpiles would be substantial hurdles for its adoption. So is there anything that environmental chemists, engineers and ecotoxicologists might offer to improve oil spill response? Absolutely. But if research is going to affect practice, it must be relevant. Researchers need to familiarize themselves with the basic knowledge already accumulated on oil behavior and the performance of various technologies, and then consult with manufacturers, regulators, and responders in the early days of their projects. New technology must fit within the complexities and limitations of oil spill response, and recognize both the scale of the operations, and the enormous dilutions that occur once oil is dispersed.12 Excellent scientific research is certainly essential, but without guidance and support from the Oil Spill Removal Organizations it will not be enough. Connections might be made at the International Oil Spill Conference in the U.S.,13 a long-running exposition with affiliated meetings in Europe and Asia which makes its papers freely available, or the smaller AMOP meeting in Canada.14 These might be beyond the comfort zone of academic researchers, but they will provide a window on the real needs in oil spill response.
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AUTHOR INFORMATION
Corresponding Author
*E-mail:
[email protected]. ORCID
Roger C. Prince: 0000-0002-5174-4216 Notes
The author declares no competing financial interest.
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REFERENCES
(1) Fingas, M. The Basics of Oil Spill Cleanup; CRC press, 2015. 14030
DOI: 10.1021/acs.est.8b06390 Environ. Sci. Technol. 2018, 52, 14029−14030
