Burning, smoke production, and smoke dispersion from oil-spill combustion

Technical Report · Sun Oct 01 04:00:00 EDT 1989

OSTI ID:7203836

Evans, D; Mulholland, G; Gross, D; Baum, H; Walton, W

The combustion of crude oil layers floated on water were studied to assess the potential of using combustion to mitigate oil spills. Burning rates for n-decane, toluene and Alberta Sweet crude oil were measured in a 1.2 m diameter pool. These were used to estimate the energy transfer rate required to vaporize the fuel as part of an energy balance at the liquid surface. Smoke emission per unit of fuel consumed was dramatically reduced in the case of burning oil layers thin enough to cause boiling in the supporting water layer. A new aging/dilution facility is described that allows for measurement of optical properties and sedimentation velocities as the smoke ages. These characteristics are important in estimating smoke properties downwind of the oil spill fire. A formulation is presented that will provide for estimates of downwind particulate deposition of the fire smoke for a steadily burning oil spill.

• Research Organization: National Inst. of Standards and Technology (NEL), Gaithersburg, MD (USA). Center for Fire Research
• OSTI ID: 7203836
• Report Number(s): PB-90-146374/XAB; NISTIR--89/4091
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

02 PETROLEUM
020900* -- Petroleum-- Environmental Aspects
54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES
540120 -- Environment
Atmospheric-- Chemicals Monitoring & Transport-- (1990-)
540320 -- Environment
Aquatic-- Chemicals Monitoring & Transport-- (1990-)
AEROSOLS
AIR POLLUTION
CHEMICAL REACTIONS
COLLOIDS
COMBUSTION
DEPOSITION
DISPERSIONS
ENERGY SOURCES
ENERGY TRANSFER
FOSSIL FUELS
FUELS
MITIGATION
OIL SPILLS
OXIDATION
PARTICLES
PARTICULATES
PETROLEUM
POLLUTION
RESIDUES
SMOKES
SOLS
THERMOCHEMICAL PROCESSES
WATER POLLUTION