Assessment of synfuel spill cleanup options

Abstract

Production of synthetic fuels will increase in the next two decades due to competitive economics and the world market for petroleum derived fuels. Increasing demand for synfuels has resulted in the need to determine the impact that synfuels production may exert on the environment. In particular, the goal of this program is to determine how to mitigate spills of synfuels and synfuel intermediaries. This chapter estimates synfuels production through the year 2000, and identifies, based on case histories, the synfuels most likely to be spilled. This information will be useful in evaluating cleanup methodologies. Synthetic fuels are derived from oil shale, coal, tar sands, and biomass. This paper offers production projections for shale oil, directly and indirectly liquified coal, tar sands syncrude, ethanol, and methanol. Direct coal liquefaction processes include solvent refined coal (SRC) II, Exxon donor solvent (EDS), and H-coal. Indirect coal liquefaction processes include Fisher-Tropsch, M-gasoline, and methanol formation. Significant amounts of methanol will probably be made through coal liquefaction.

Demonstrating Aqueous-Phase Low-Molecular-Weight-Gel Wicking of Oil for the Remediation of Oil Spilled into Surface Water

“…Currently available gelators are not commercially relevant, rendered impractical due to toxicity of formulations, large dose requirements, cumbersome deployment methods, and high costs . Recently, a renewed interest in gelators has led researchers to begin developing new chemistries to overcome some of the challenges mentioned above. ,− Both Mukherjee and Mukhopadhyay and Vibhute et al independently reported environmentally friendly, carbohydrate-based gelators capable of selectively gelling organic liquids and oils in organic–aqueous mixtures at low doses.…”