Arsenic release to the environment from hydrocarbon production, storage, transportation, use and waste management

Abstract

Arsenic (As) is a toxic trace element with many sources, including hydrocarbons such as oil, natural gas, oil sands, and oil-and gas-bearing shales. Arsenic from these hydrocarbon sources can be released to the environment through human activities of hydrocarbon production, storage, transportation and use. In addition, accidental release of hydrocarbons to aquifers with naturally occurring (geogenic) As can induce mobilization of As to groundwater through biogeochemical reactions triggered by hydrocarbon biodegradation. In this paper, we review the occurrence of As in different hydrocarbons and the release of As from these sources into the environment. We also examine the occurrence of As in wastes from hydrocarbon production, including produced water and sludge. Last, we discuss the potential for As release related to waste management, including accidental or intentional releases, and recycling and reuse of these wastes.

Understanding the Evolution of Groundwater‐Contaminant Plume Chemistry Emanating from Legacy Contaminant Sources: An Example from a Long‐Term Crude Oil Spill

“…Predictions of some of the long-term effects of these reactions include persistent contamination of groundwater by hydrocarbon partial transformation products, the oxyhydrocarbons (Bekins et al 2016;Podgorski et al 2018;Bekins et al 2020), and arsenic released from aquifer sediments (Ziegler et al 2021). These secondary effects of hydrocarbon degradation have been documented in this and other groundwater plumes containing hydrocarbon source zones (Stasik Geng et al 2017;Smith et al 2019;Schreiber and Cozzarelli 2021). Considering the combined stressors of these secondary contaminants may help to better evaluate ecological and health effects when assessing potential risks of exposure to these waters (Sonne et al 2018).…”

[Retracted] Intervention Study of Dictyophora Polysaccharides on Arsenic‐Induced Liver Fibrosis in SD Rats

“…The different forms of As can migrate and accumulate in the atmosphere, soil, and water. Generally, As has different physical and chemical factors that result in various degrees of environmental toxicity [ 2 ]. The primary sources of As include natural sources and artificial sources (industrial and agricultural release).…”

The Global Biogeochemical Cycle of Arsenic

“…Assuming that this ratio applies globally, and global natural gas production of 3,850 × 10 9 m 3 in 2020 (British Petroleum, 2020) suggests a volume of produced water of 0.77 × 10 9 m 3 , approximately 17-fold less than that of oil-produced water. Using the same As concentration of 0.04 mg/L reported for flowback waters from shale gas (Schreiber & Cozzarelli, 2021), the As flux from produced water co-extracted with natural gas is negligible (1.5-4.2 × 10 4 g/y) and thus insignificant among anthropogenic contributions.…”

“…Arsenic occurs in crude oil at concentrations of 0.1–0.9 μg/g with an average of 0.23 μg/g (Schreiber & Cozzarelli, 2021). Based on 2020 global crude oil production of ∼5.2 × 10 15 g (British Petroleum, 2020), we estimate As flux from the combustion of petroleum as ∼1.2 × 10 9 g/y in 2020.…”