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The essential target of academics and the industrial sector is the innovation of an industrial ecology approach. Worldwide, cigarette butts (CBs) comprise the most predominant form of litter that spreads into the ecosystem and inland. In the meantime, oil is spilled into marine life from various activities and transportation. The result is a complex oil–water composition in a high concentration that causes severe hazards to the environment and to aquatic life. In this regard, the current investigation focuses on obtaining hydrophobic cellulose acetate from CBs for use as a filter media. The filter is applied in marine oil spill separation as a win–win industrial ecology technique. Initially, the separated CB residuals were prepared by successive washing. Subsequently, the obtained cellulose acetate fibers were characterized by Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) and scanning electron microscopy (SEM). Furthermore, the new CB-based filters were used in the separation/adsorption of marine oil wastewater spill. Subsequently, a group of experiments were conducted. The results showed that the cleanup efficiency could be up to 99% in terms of chemical oxygen demand (COD). Moreover, the products were recovered by washing with hot water for further use, which showed high removal activity that reached 95% after successive uses. In comparison to commercial oil sorption materials, the results were promising as the RP-C18 cartridge revealed a maximum oil removal of 90%. Such preliminary data on a cellulose acetate filter scheme are a good indicator in the development of an oil spill facility, being a suitable candidate for controlling oil wastewater effluent streams. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Janus nanoparticles have aroused the interest of scholars because of their highly efficient emulsification of spilled oils in wastewater. In this work, interfacially active Janus hollow glass microparticles (J-HGMPs) of asymmetric wettability were designed and synthesized in order to achieve more efficient separation of emulsified oil droplets from oily wastewater. Surface characteristic techniques such as FTIR, SEM, zeta potential and contact angle measurements had been employed to assess the amphiphilic surface properties of J-HGMPs. The oil removal/recovery performance of J-HGMPs in different oil–water systems and their interfacial activities were studied. As a particulate emulsifier, J-HGMPs could remove/recover > 96% oil from oil–water mixed phase. The results showed that J-HGMPs had strong interfacial activities and anchored firmly at oil/water interfaces. This high adsorption energy was also evaluated and verified via the calculation of Gibbs free energy. Overall, this study provided a novel and low-cost oil recovery method via a convenient buoyancy force that could be effectively applied in the treatment of oil spills while achieving the goal of benign and green environmental protection. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Oil spills in open waters pose a significant threat to marine life. The application of dispersant as an oil-spill response is a promising approach to minimize the environmental burden caused by these accidental events. Dispersants have been accepted and applied by many countries around the world as a countermeasure in responding to oil spills due to their great success and advancements in recent years. This review covers different approaches for design and development of chemical formulas of oil dispersants with the aim to improve dispersing efficiencies, followed by formulating non-chemical dispersants, which are more environmentally friendly approaches. The encouraging properties motivate scientific communities to research and develop these non-chemical-based dispersants. In general, this review intends to offer a multi-perspective overall picture of progress made in recent years to develop and apply different dispersants suitable for combating oil spills. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The use of chemical dispersants is one of the most widely used methods for responding to oil spills. The most important characteristic of dispersants is their effectiveness. The dispersant effectiveness is a measure of how well the dispersant breaks up and stabilizes the oil into the water column. In this paper, we studied the dispersing ability of three proprietary dispersants with respect to light and heavy crude oils of Usinsk and Nagornoye fields with a density of 0.816 g/cm³ and 0.896 g/cm³, respectively. The dispersant effectiveness was determined using a Baffled Flask Test; dispersant was applied to the oil slick, mixed, and the concentration of oil in a sample taken from the water column was measured using UV-Visible spectrophotometry. A modification of the standard technique is proposed to minimize the error of the method for the heavy crude oil by eliminating the error associated with inaccuracy of dosing. For this purpose, oil of the Nagornoye field was added to the tested systems not "by volume", but "by weight". It was provided better convergence of the experimental results. The standard deviation in the case of dosing of oil "by volume" exceeded 10% and varied from 11.87% to 13.59%. The introduction of oil "by weight" was much lower and varied from 5.66% to 6.30%. Studied dispersants have a higher dispersing ability for the less dense oil of the Usinsk field. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Thousands of oil spill incidents regrettably have occurred on a daily basis around the globe. Oil spills are a form of pollution that poses major catastrophic threats to marine ecosystems. Oil spill incidents commonly occur in the middle of the ocean, and the process to remove the oil becomes a great challenge. Absorbents, due to their good oil-absorbing characteristics, are becoming more popular nowadays as one of the effective oil spill clean-up methods. Among the many types of oil absorbents, plant fibers were also being studied to remove the oil spills from the sea surface. This paper reviews factors leading to oil spills, the detrimental effect of the oil spill on the environment, the oil spill removal methods, and the application of plant fibers as oil absorbent material. The paper also will highlight the latest development on the utilization of kenaf core fibers as oil-absorbent material and the use of oil absorbed kenaf core fibers as fuel briquette by taking advantage the high calorific value of the oil spill. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

An oil spill was simulated in a basin connected to the sea, which presents inside the National Institute of Oceanography and Fisheries. Two available natural fibrous materials were used after modification as sorbent materials for the treatment of oil spills. Sorption capacities of LCLA and PFLA onto crude oil were preliminarily examined in the laboratory before applying in the field. An amount of LCLA and PFLA were wrapped in a polyester circular pad. Cylindrical-shaped acrylic vessels, with perforated sides, were fixed with cork sheets to keep them floating on the water surface. 1.1 mm thickness of light crude oil was spilled inside the acrylic vessels. LCLA and PFLA containing pads were then dipped into an oil layer floating on seawater. Pads were laid into the interface between oil and seawater for 30 min (one pad per each vessel). Sorption capacities were measured as 11.0 and 9.8 as gram oil per gram of sorbent for LCLA and PFLA, respectively. These results were close to the sorption capacities produced in the laboratory using the same oil and sorbent materials indicating that the tested sorbents have a cheerful application in the real field. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Aims: This study aimed to isolate and identify hydrocarbon-utilising bacteria from oil-polluted sites and to develop a microbial consortium for use in pilot trial and commercial scale bioremediation treatment systems in the future. Methodology and results: Ten hydrocarbon-utilising bacterial strains were isolated using enrichment culture technique from oil-polluted sites using crude oil as sole carbon source. The strains were tentatively identified on the basis of colony morphology, microscopic examination and biochemical characteristics. The growth of each strain was assessed by growing the bacteria in mineral salt medium amended with diesel oil as sole carbon source. The isolates exhibited differences in growth with the order of biomass production being Enterobacter sp. (OD620=1.283)> Bacillus subtilis subsp. subtilis (OD620=1.245) > Aerococcus sp. (OD620=1.100) > Bacillus firmus (OD620=0.970) > Corynebacterium sp. (OD620=0.886) > Bacillus lentus (OD620=0.743) > Micrococcus luteus (OD620=0.656) > Bacillus subtilis (OD620=0.367) > Bacillus cereus (OD620=0.110) > Kocuria flavus (OD620=0.065). Conclusion, significance and impact of study: This study is a prerequisite for the design of future full-scale bioremediation treatment of oil-polluted sites using hydrocarbon-utilising bacteria. An efficient consortium was developed comprising the best three hydrocarbon-utilising strains, which include Enterobacter sp., Bacillus subtilis subsp. subtilis and Aerococcus sp. This efficient microbial consortium is suggested to be used in future to rehabilitate oil-polluted sites in Sudan. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Concerns on the timing and processes associated with petroleum degradation were raised after the use of Corexit during the Deepwater Horizon oil spill. There is a lack of understanding of the removal of oil associated with flocculate materials to the sediment. Mesocosm studies employing coastal and open-ocean seawater from the Gulf of Mexico were undertaken to examine changes in oil concentration and composition with time. The water accommodated fractions (WAF) and chemically enhanced WAF (CEWAF) produced using Macondo surrogate oil and Corexit were followed over 3–4 days in controlled environmental conditions. Environmental half-lives of estimated oil equivalents (EOE), polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAH), n-alkanes (C10-C35), isoprenoids pristane and phytane, and total petroleum hydrocarbons (TPH) were determined. EOE and PAH concentrations decreased exponentially following first-order decay rate kinetics. WAF, CEWAF and DCEWAF (a 10X CEWAF dilution) treatments half-lives ranged from 0.9 to 3.2 days for EOE and 0.5 to 3.3 days for PAH, agreeing with estimates from previous mesocosm and field studies. The aliphatic half-lives for CEWAF and DECWAF treatments ranged from 0.8 to 2.0 days, but no half-life for WAF could be calculated as concentrations were below the detection limits. Biodegradation occurred in all treatments based on the temporal decrease of the nC17/pristane and nC18/phytane ratios. The heterogeneity observed in all treatments was likely due to the hydrophobicity of oil and weathering processes occurring at different rates and times. The presence of dispersant did not dramatically change the half-lives of oil. Comparing degradation of oil alone as well as with dispersant present is critical to determine the fate and transport of these materials in the ocean. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The role of advanced technologies in the remediation of oil spilled environment was investigated. Oil spill remediation technologies for the clean-up of soil and groundwater contamination from petroleum industry activities have advanced considerably over the past decade. This has been the result of increasing regulatory pressures in many parts of the world, mounting liability exposure, changing public perceptions, and the drive towards enhanced remediation in terms of cost effectiveness, health and environmental concerns, operation and maintenance requirement, applicability and efficiency. This paper examined the state of remedial technologies for petroleum industry applications in ex-situ and in-situ conditions, and used an effective score drawn from research to develop a decision matrix for selection evaluation. Ex-situ technologies involve excavation and treatment of contaminated soil. These include methods such as pyrolysis, solvent extraction, oxidation/reduction, and bioremediation, designed to remediate the soil to acceptable standards. In-situ technologies involve alteration of sub-surface flow, pressure, chemical or biological regimes to achieve containment, redirection, removal or destruction of contaminants. They include soil vapour extraction, bioventing, bio-sparging, and the use of horizontal wells and semi-passive barrier systems. A decision matrix was then developed using Microsoft Excel to aid decision making. This was developed using an effective research score allocated to each evaluation criterion and weighted using the ratio of this effective score to the total score by hundred percent. The optimal remedial approach depends on the highest ranked score as computed and documented in the MS-excel spreadsheet. From the analyses shown in the ex-situ decision matrix, advanced bioremediation was found to the best placed technique with a weighted score of 7.048 and the highest rank of 1, while wet oxidation was found to be the least impressive technique with a weighted score of 2.022. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Following the Deepwater Horizon oil spill, eastern oyster (Crassostrea virginica) reefs in the northern Gulf of Mexico were exposed to oil and various associated clean-up activities that may have compromised oyster reef health. Included in the exposure was oil, dispersant, and in some locales, atypical salinity regimes. Oil and dispersants can be detrimental to oysters and the effects of salinity depend on the level. In addition to these extrinsic factors, genetic diversity of oyster populations may help the oysters respond to stressors, as demonstrated in other systems. We used a 3×3×2 factorial design to experimentally examine the effects of oil/dispersed oil, intraspecific genetic diversity, and salinity on juvenile (ca. 25 mm shell height) oyster survivorship and growth during a 21-d exposure in a closed, recirculating system. The genetic effect was weak overall, oil and dispersed oil negatively affected juvenile oyster survivorship, and low salinity mitigated mortality in oil and dispersed oil treatments. Survivorship was about 40% greater in low-salinity than in mesohaline water for both oil and dispersed oil treatments, bringing survivorship in low salinity oil-only treatments to a similar level with low salinity controls (no oil). Oyster growth was minimal after 21 d but appeared to be negatively affected by oil and dispersed oil, and had a significant interaction with salinity. Our results may be informative for future decisions regarding oil spill response activities and suggest that a pulse of low salinity water may be a viable short-term mitigation option for oysters if filtration characteristics, exposure time, and water temperatures are all considered, in addition to weighing the costs and benefits of this type of response on other organisms and habitats. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Oil pollution brings great challenge to environmental protection. Utilising oil-water separation device to separate and recycle oils is an environment-friendly approach to dispose mixtures containing oils. Pouring-type gravity-driven oil-water separation method based on extremely wettable materials is an interesting area of research because of its high separation velocity, selectivity and purity. However, the presence of water bridge results in low separation efficiency. Herein, the authors first synthesised a facile etching method and a dipcoating method to fabricate contrary extreme wettability sponges including superhydrophilic-underwater-superoleophobic (SHI-U-SOO) sponge and superhydrophobic-superoleophilic (SHO-SOI) sponge. Accordingly, they designed a three-way oil-water separation system whose left and right bottom tubes were installed with the SHI-U-SOO sponge and the SHO-SOI sponge, respectively. Water and oil separately flow out from the left and right tubes, thereby eliminating the water bridge and increasing separation efficiency, and still having ideal separation selectivity and separation purity. The developed three-way oil-water separation system has promising application prospects in disposing oil spills, oil leakage from factories and industrial effluents. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Oil spillage accidents can cause severe short-term effects to marine organisms and may lead to devastating long-term impact to marine environments. This study determined the influence of water accommodated fractions (WAFs) of diesel oil, chemically enhanced WAFs (CEWAFs) of diesel oil and oil dispersant (IPAC-OCD) to the toxicity of green algae, Tetraselmis chuii, and marine diatom, Chaetocheros calcitrans. Both the phytoplankton species were exposed to different concentrations of WAFs, CEWAFs and dispersant (0%, 5%, 10%, 20%, 40%, 80%). All of the toxicants significantly reduced the growth of phytoplankton, however, the level of response varied by solution and species. The dispersant has the highest impact among all the chemicals studied. The dispersant is very highly toxic to C. calcitrans, but still practically non-toxic to T. chuii. Even though, WAFs have higher impact to T. chuii than C. calcitrans, the chemicals are practically non-toxic to both phytoplankton species and, moreover, in short-term exposure, low concentration of WAFs may stimulate the growth of C. calcitrans. However, the mixture of diesel oil WAFs and dispersant cause synergistic toxicity to C. calcitrans that increases the WAFs toxicity. This finding implies that the dispersant application to mitigate the oil spills may negatively impact the marine phytoplankton. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

As offshore oil and gas exploration expands in the Arctic, it is important to expand the scientific understanding of arctic ecology and environmental impact to mitigate operational risks. Understanding the fate of oil in arctic seawater is a key factor for consideration. Here we report the chemical loss due to the biodegradation of Alaska North Slope (ANS) crude oil that would occur in the water column following the successful dispersion of a surface oil slick. Primary biodegradation and mineralization were measured in mesocosms containing Arctic seawater collected from the Chukchi Sea, Alaska, incubated at −1°C. Indigenous microorganisms degraded both fresh and weathered oil, in both the presence and absence of Corexit 9500, with oil losses ranging from 46−61% and up to 11% mineralization over 60 days. When tested alone, 14% of 50 ppm Corexit 9500 was mineralized within 60 days. Our study reveals that microorganisms indigenous to Arctic seawater are capable of performing extensive biodegradation of chemically and physically dispersed oil at an environmentally relevant temperature (−1°C) without any additional nutrients. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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A facile method for synthesis of environmentally friendly magnetite nanomaterials (MNMs) was applied using hydrophobic biocomponents as capping and stabilizing agents. The biocomponents were extracted from Matricaria aurea (MAE) and Ochradenus baccatus (OBE) and used for the surface modification of MNMs to increase their dispersion efficiency on the collection of heavy crude oil spills. Synthesized MNM samples (MAE-MNMs and OBE-MNMs) were verified using thermogravimetric analysis; Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy; transmission electron microscopy; dynamic light scattering, and vibrating-sample magnetometry. The application of these nanomaterials in the collection of oil spill showed that the MAE-MNMs and OBE-MNMs successfully collected 95% and 91% of the oil spill, respectively. These results support the potential use of these materials as eco-friendly composites for the successful collection of oil spills that might occur during offshore operations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]