Elimination of Emergency Oil Spills: State of the Art and Problems.

Oil pollution is today one of the main factors of the technogenic impact on the environment. Emergency oil spills are the main source of the oil pollution. The causes, scales, and environmental consequences of emergency spills are considered. The advantages and drawbacks of methods for eliminating the spills of crude oil and petroleum products on the surface of water bodies are discussed. The features of the sorption method for oil collection from the water surface, which is the most widely used method, are described in detail. Requirements to petroleum sorbents are analyzed, and classes of the sorbents are described. Synthetic polymer sorbents have a set of advantages over other types of oil-absorbing materials. Fighting emergency oil spills should include the activity aimed at their prevention. This is particularly topical for Russia, which starts active operation of the Northern Sea Route and of shelf deposits of fossil fuels in seas of the Russian Arctic. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]