Aerostat Sampling of PCDD/PCDF Emissions from the Gulf Oil Spill In Situ Burns

摘要

The Deepwater Horizon oil drilling platform located in the Gulf of Mexico and owned and managed by Transocean for British Petroleum (BP) caught fire on April 20, 2010 and sank. Eleven lives were lost and the ensuing oil leak resulted in an environmental disaster for the Gulf region. The U.S. Coast Guard (USCG) and BP undertook operations to collect and burn the surface oil as one means of limiting its environmental impact. Pairs of vessels, typically fishing trawlers, towed a collection boom through surface oil slicks, accumulating oil. Smaller igniter boats placed an incendiary starter charge (gelled diesel in a plastic container with foam flotation and a road flare) within the booms oil pool to promote ignition. Under appropriate conditions of the oil and the sea/wind state, the collected oil would ignite, burning for times varying from minutes to hours. The USCG estimated that between 220,000 and 310,000 barrels of oil were consumed during 411 in situ burns between April 28, 2010 and July 19, 2010.