The Impacts of Petroleum on Environment

Abstract

Petroleum is a mixture of many different hydrocarbon compounds, most of which primarily contain carbon and hydrogen in varying proportions. Monocyclic aromatic hydrocarbons, which are small, explosive, and volatile, to large, non-volatile, are all included in the mixture of hydrocarbons. Toxicological effects of a hydrocarbon depend on its molecular weight, family of hydrocarbons, creature exposed to it, and life-cycle stage of the exposed organism. Studies have shown that exposure to the toxic chemicals in crude oil, such as para-phenol compounds and volatile benzene, might have an adverse effect on human health. Furthermore, when there is an oil spill at sea, the wind and water currents disperse the oil, causing a thin slick to migrate across the ocean’s surface. There are numerous simultaneous chemical and physical changes. Reviewing the long-term effects of petroleum on the environment is the aim of this paper in terms of the impact on human health, plants, and marine life.

Biochar, Halloysite, and Alginite Improve the Quality of Soil Contaminated with Petroleum Products

“…The toxicity of petroleum-derived substances determines the quality of soils as well as the health of plants, animals, and even humans [20,22,74,75]. Therefore, the remediation of soil contaminated with organic compounds poses a challenge for scientists and practitioners [76][77][78], considering that there are approximately 2.8 million sites contaminated with diesel fuel, petrol, mineral oils, and heating oil in Europe alone [79].…”

“…According to Al-Rubaye et al [75], the toxicological effects of hydrocarbons depend on their molecular weight. Toxic substances present in diesel fuel can also increase the concentration of heavy metal salts [102,110,111], negatively affecting populations and activity of soil microorganisms, which play a significant role in the nutrient cycling and biological processes in the soil [4,67,74,103,112,113].…”

Environmental Method of Distilling Gasoline Based on ASTM D86: A Comparative Study

“…On the other hand, performing this examination requires high accuracy and a rapid method, which affects the economic aspect. Evaporation of substances made during testing or distillation, as well as gases released by gasoline, are sources of air pollution [11]. Therefore, the current study aims to find the best (environmentally friendly method), the most accurate, and the fastest method for distilling gasoline under atmospheric pressure according to ASTM D86.…”

The Side Effect of Oil Refineries on Environment: As a mini Review

“…Based on the high rates of emissions of toxic gases and particulate matter more than other industries, this industry will be more dangerous to the environment, especially when refineries are located close or inside cities, as seen in figure 1 [1]. Petroleum (crude oil) is processed and refined into useful products that include gasoline, fuel for diesel engines, asphalt, fuel oils, kerosene, liquefied petroleum gas (LPG), and naphtha via an oil refinery or petroleum refinery, which is a type of industrial processing unit [2,3]. Refineries for petroleum can be huge, vast industrial facilities with significant piping running throughout, delivering streams of fluids through chemical processing equipment, including distillation columns.…”