- Author
- Evans, D. D. | Mulholland, G. W. | Lawson, J. R. | Tennyson, E. J. | Tebeau, P. A. | Fingas, M. F. | Gould, J. R.
- Title
- Burning of Oil Spills.
- Coporate
- National Institute of Standards and Technology, Gaithersburg, MD Materials Management Service, Herndon, VA Coast Guard Research and Development Branch, Groton, CT Environment Canada, Ottawa, Ontario American Petroleum Institute, Washington, DC
- Book or Conf
- U.S. Coast Guard, American Petroleum Institute, and U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. International Oil Spill Conference: Prevention, Behavior, Control, Cleanup, 1991 Proceedings. March 4-7, 1991, San Diego, CA, 677-680 p., 1991
- Keywords
- oil spills | combustion | offshore drilling | pollution | crude oil | water
- Abstract
- The Center for Fire Research (CFR) at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) is conducting research related to safety in offshore drilling and oil spill pollution under joint funding from Minerals Management Service (MMS), U. S. Coast Guard, and the American Petroleum Institute. Technical assistance in measurement has been donated by Environment Canada. This research has focused on examining the phenomena associated with crude oil combustion and the impact of using burning as a spill response method. The process of burning crude oil on water as a means to mitigate oil spills has been investigated with a research effort combining both small-scale experiments and calculations. As a result of these studies, there has been increased understanding of the burning process, including burning rate, heat radiation, smoke emission, smoke composition, and smoke dispersion in the atmosphere. A key to gaining acceptance of burning as a spill response technique is the demonstration that favorable results obtained at laboratory scale can be shown to continue in test burns representing the size of fires expected in actual operations. Field-scale burn tests are being planned and coordinated jointly by MMS, API, USCG, and Environment Canada to document the use of burning technology under conditions simulating actual oil spill cleanup operations. The purpose of this project is to measure the effects of oil spill burning in laboratory and field tests.