A Field Evaluation of Selected Beach-Cleaning Techniques

Abstract

ABSTRACT. A series of experiments was conducted to evaluate selected countermeasures for the cleanup of oil on remote beaches. These experiments formed part of the Baffin Island Oil Spill (BIOS) Project, which was conducted at Cape Hatt, N.W.T., between 1980 and 1983. An isolated lagoon was selected with a series of segregated bays that could be used for discrete experiments with control and countermeasure plots. Intertidal control plots were established in 1980 at an exposed site and at a relatively sheltered location. The oil on the exposed intertidal control plot was removed rapidly by natural processes so that subsequent attention was focused on low wave energy sites. Countermeasure experiments were conducted in 1981 in the intertidal zone at a relatively sheltered site and in 1982 in the intertidal and backshore zones at a very sheltered beach. At each of these two locations, control and countermeasure plots were duplicated using an aged Lagomedio crude oil and a water in aged Lagomedio emulsion. Countermeasures were selected for testing on the basis of existing experimental or practical knowledge and the applicability to remote or arctic beach environments. The selected techniques were incendiary combustion, mechanical mixing, chemical dispersion, solidifying and low-pressure flushing.Samples of surface and subsurface sediments were collected throughout the experiments for total hydrocarbon and GUMS analysis. Two chemical dispersants (BP 1 lOOX and Corexit 7664) were effective on the relatively sheltered beach but neither was effective on the very sheltered beach due to the lack of wave energy to agitate or to redistribute the oiYdispersant mixture. The mechanical mixing of backshore sediments accelerated the removal of surface oil but increased subsurface hydrocarbon concentrations. Low-pressure flushing on the very sheltered fine-grained beach did not reduce surface hydrocarbon concentrations and resulted in higher oil in sediment concentrations when compared to an adjacent control plot. The solidifying agent was an effective method for encapsulating oiled beach sediments. Over a five-to six-week period the control plot data indicates that rates of natural cleaning resulted in similar total hydrocarbon values when compared to the Countermeasure plots. However, these results must be considered in the context of edge effects and dispersion that are a function of using small (10 m X 2 m) intertidal plots. Such plots represent only patchy contamination. AS the experimental concept was aimed primarily at the cleanup of heavily contaminated beaches, the primary evaluation of the countermeasures relates to data obtained only from the first week of each experiment. Neither the incendiary device nor the low-pressure flushing techniques proved to be effective, whereas over this short period mixing and chemical dispersion demonstrated a potential to mitigate the effects of beach contamination or to accelerate the removal of stranded oil. hydrocarbures et pour l'analyse par CG/SM. Deux agents de dispersion chimiques...

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