A new approach to oil spill response utilizes spraying environmentally benign silicone surfactants directly onto an oil slick, thereby causing rapid spreading of the slick to extremely thin sheens. This promotes much faster evaporation of the oil by increasing surface area, resulting in less hydrocarbon transfer to the water column. Evaporation of the oil results in relatively rapid elimination of the lighter components and enhances elimination of medium to heavy components. Larger, more persistent molecules, such as PAH, will undergo evaporaton to an extent that depends on their individual vapor pressure and the environmental conditions. Spreading the slick will increase their rate of evaporation as well. Additionally, thinning quickly breaks emulsions by spreading the oil to a thikness less than the water droplets in the emulsion. The end result of this approach should be a reduction of any impacts of offshore marine oil spills.

Use of chemical spreading agents to provide a new oil spill response option

243rd National Meeting (2012)

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