Effectiveness of a chemical herder in association with in-situ burning of oil spills in ice-infested water

van Gelderen, Laurens; Fritt-Rasmussen, Janne; Jomaas, Grunde

Effectiveness of a chemical herder in association with in-situ burning of oil spills in ice-infested water

2017

van Gelderen, Laurens | Fritt-Rasmussen, Janne | Jomaas, Grunde

The average herded slick thickness, surface distribution and burning efficiency of a light crude oil were studied in ice-infested water to determine the effectiveness of a chemical herder in facilitating the in-situ burning of oil. Experiments were performed in a small scale (1.0m2) and an intermediate scale (19m2) setup with open water and 3/10, 5/10 and 7/10 brash ice coverages. The herded slick thicknesses (3–8mm) were ignitable in each experiment. The presence of ice caused fracturing of the oil during the herding process, which reduced the size of the herded slicks and, as a consequence, their ignitability, which in turn decreased the burning efficiency. Burning efficiencies relative to the ignited fraction of the oil were in the expected range (42–86%). This shows that the herder will be an effective tool for in-situ burning of oil when the ignitability issues due to fracturing of the oil are resolved.

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