Oil Sands Products Spill Response Studies at Environment Canada

Transcription

1 Oil Sands Products Spill Response Studies at Environment Canada Emergencies Science and Technology Section Environment Canada Ottawa, ON Meeting of the Royal Society of Canada s Expert Panel on The Behaviour and Environmental Impacts of Crude Oil Released into Aqueous Environments Wednesday, February 4, 2015

2 Oil Sands Products Spill Response Studies Goal: Supply the knowledge responders need to prepare for, and respond to marine spills Four pillars: 1. Identify Spill Hazards 2. Assess Environmental Vulnerabilities 3. Develop Risk Assessment tools 4. Test Response Tools RSC, Calgary AB, 4 February 2015 page 2

3 Joint Federal Project Environment Canada Fisheries and Oceans Canada Natural Resources Canada RSC, Calgary AB, 4 February 2015 page 3

4 Identify Spill Hazards Oil sands product composition and properties Physical bulk properties: density, viscosity, flashpoint, vapour pressure Chemical Composition: Groups ( SARA, CCME), Analytes (n-alkanes, PAH, apah, biomarkers ) Develop forensic markers/toolbox for identification of oil sands products Lead: B. Hollebone, WS&T Fate and Behaviour studies Weathering/Buoyancy (lab simulations, meso-scale, shoreline microcosm) Evaporation, Dissolution and Emulsification Photo-oxidation and oil breakdown Sedimentation and oil-aggregate formation Leads: B. Hollebone, A. Khelifa WS&T Health and safety information for responders Development of guidebook for Responder H&S for oil sands product spills. Leads: P. Lambert, WS&T RSC, Calgary AB, 4 February 2015 page 4

5 Fl IP Hazards: Oil Sands Products Composition and Properties Develop database of oil sands products composition and properties to support operational modelling and response Fresh (0%) Degree of Evaporation (Mass Loss w/w%) W1 W2 W3 (8.5%) (16.9%) (25.3%) W4 (26.5%) Sulphur Content (% w/w) Water Content (% w/w) Flash Point ( C) < -5 < Pour Point ( C) < -25 < Density (g/ml) 0 C C C * API Gravity Dynamic Viscosity 0 C 1.30E E E E+07 >1.00E+08 (mpa s) 15 C E E E E C * Emulsion Formation Stability Class Entrained Entrained Entrained Entrained DNF Tendency and Stability Complex Modulus (Pa) E+04 N/A Water Content (%w/w) N/A Surface Tension 0 C NM NM NM (Air/Oil, mn/m) 15 C NM NM 20 C 27.5 Interfacial Tension 0 C 24.8 NM NM NM NM (Oil/Water, mn/m) 15 C NM NM NM Interfacial Tension 0 C 25.0 NM NM NM NM (Oil/33 Brine, mn/m) 15 C NM NM NM C0-N C0-N Fresh C1-N C2-N C3-N C4-N W1 8.53% C1-N C2-N C3-N C4-N C0-P C0-P C1-P C1-P C2-P C2-P C3-P C3-P C4-P C4-P C0-D C0-D C1-D Fl C1-D C2-D C2-D C3-D C3-D Bph Acl IP Concentration (µg/g oil) C0-N W % C1-N C2-N C3-N C4-N C0-P C1-P C2-P C3-P C4-P C0-D C1-D C2-D C3-D C0-F Bph Acl C0-F Bph Acl C0-F Ace An C1-F Ace An C1-F Ace Fl An C1-F C2-F C2-F C2-F Py Py IP C0-N W % C1-N C2-N C3-N C4-N C0-P C1-P C2-P C3-P C4-P C0-D C1-D C2-D C3-D Bph Acl C0-F Ace An C1-F C2-F Py BaA C3-F BaA C3-F BaA C3-F Fl Py BaA C3-F BbF BkF C0-C BbF IP C0-N W % C1-N C2-N C3-N C4-N C0-P C1-P C2-P C3-P C4-P C0-D C1-D C2-D C3-D Bph Acl C0-F Ace An C1-F C2-F C3-F BkF C0-C BbF BkF C0-C BbF Fl Py BaA BkF C0-C BbF BkF C0-C IP Access Western Blend (winter) Physical Properties AWB (winter) apah compostion BeP BaP C1-C BeP BaP C1-C BeP BaP C1-C BeP BaP C1-C BeP BaP C1-C Pe C2-C Pe C2-C Pe C2-C Pe C2-C Pe C2-C DA C3-C DA C3-C DA C3-C DA C3-C DA C3-C BgP BgP BgP BgP BgP RSC, Calgary AB, 4 February 2015 page 5

6 Hazards: Environmental Forensics Develop protocols for forensic identification of oil and weathered oil Essential tool for response and planning, to judge spill extent and endpoints, to verify identity and quantity of spilled oil. Essential tool to enable other research: fate and behaviour, toxicology Relies on unique chemical compositions of oil sands products Evaluation of n-alkanes, PAH/APAH and saturate biomarkers Used in real spills Enbridge Line 6b, Kalamazoo River, MI Exxon-Mobil Pegasus, Mayflower AK Requires survey of products moved by ship and through pipelines RSC, Calgary AB, 4 February 2015 page 6

7 Hazards: Fate and Behaviour Evaluate changes to product properties and composition induced by environmental weathering: Evaporation, Dissolution, Photo-degradation Examine behaviours of products in the environment as it weathers: Sinking/buoyancy, Emulsification, Dispersion, Sedimentation and oil-aggregate formation Interactions with shorelines in microcosms, adhesion to surfaces, penetration and flushing from simulated beaches Longer-term studies of weathering and behaviour in mesoscale simulators and wave tanks to better quantify longer-term spill fates in more realistic conditions Work to date indicates that diluted bitumen products have unique behaviours and weathering characteristics RSC, Calgary AB, 4 February 2015 page 7

8 Hazards: Initial dilbit buoyancy studies Conditions Fate Behaviour No sediment All weatherings of dilbit Suspended fine and medium sediment Fresh to moderate weathering of dilbit Suspended fine and medium sediment Highly weathered dilbit Suspended coarse sediment All weatherings of dilbit Floats as oil-water mixture Floats and spreads like thick oil, e.g., Burnaby, BC Large part of oil sinks as fine oil particles Suspended in water column, sinks, and disperses, e.g., Kalamazoo MI Floating oil balls Floats and balls can disperse Large part of oil floats as water-oil mixture Some sunken oil/sand agglomerations Most oil floats and spreads like thick oil Few oil/sand agglomerations sink RSC, Calgary AB, 4 February 2015 page 8

9 Submerged and Sunken Dilbit Dilbit mixed with high concentration of fine sediment for 8 hours, allowed to settle for 24 hours (15 C, sea water % salt, Access Western Blend oil) Fresh Light evaporation Moderate evaporation RSC, Calgary AB, 4 February 2015 page 9

10 Floating Oil Balls Highly evaporated dilbit mixed with saltwater and fine sediment Oil has very high viscosity, similar to native bitumen Discrete oil balls form after mixing (fingernail size) Floats in seawater Photos: Access Western Blend, 25% evaporated, 8 hours at 15 C) RSC, Calgary AB, 4 February 2015 page 10

11 Vulnerability Assessment Identify vulnerable locations near possible shipping routes, including: Human infrastructure, Ecologically significant communities, sensitive species, and habitats, and sensitive shorelines. Response requirements: access, and pre-selection of appropriate response options Initial phases have focussed on the Canadian west coast, future work will expand to cover four designated response areas RSC, Calgary AB, 4 February 2015 page 11

12 Initial Shoreline Studies Objectives study the fate and behaviour and cleanup of diluted bitumen on marine shorelines under various conditions deliver operational guidance and scientific information that is legally defensible and credible to spill responders for shoreline treatment option decisions Literature review of the impacts of bitumen and fuels on marine shorelines Initial aerial shoreline survey of the Douglas and Grenville Channels, BC in 2013 and 2014 Lead: P. Lambert, B. Hollebone, WS&T RSC, Calgary AB, 4 February 2015 page 12

13 Shoreline Assessments Shoreline survey of the Douglas and Grenville Channels, BC in 2013 and 2014, by air and boat Additional surveys panned in 2015 Shoreline segmentation and classification Shoreline material collection for laboratory studies Collaboration with WCMRC and DFO RSC, Calgary AB, 4 February 2015 page 13

14 Wildlife Vulnerability Assessment Enhance baseline marine bird data by marine tagging (e.g. GLS, GPS, satellite telemetry) on northern and central BC coasts, expanding to four designated response areas this year. Targeting focal marine bird species of conservation concern, in order to put existing occurrence data in the context of spatial-temporal distributions of regional populations. Conduct baseline monitoring, targeted at specific locations or specific species groups, within the four response areas. Leads: K. Fort, BC; M-F. Dalcourt, QC; P. Chamberland Atl RSC, Calgary AB, 4 February 2015 page 14

15 Risk Assessment Provide responders with accurate, situation-specific forecasts of spill evolution Predictive numerical modeling capacity to forecast spill evolution and impacts on identified vulnerabilities Work to date: Spill modelling Incorporate new databases for oil sands product Incorporate new wind and hydrodynamic data Simulation of hypothetical spills Lead: A Khelifa, WS&T Work to date: Weather and Atmospheric Modelling Incorporate improved high resolution wind modeling, including high resolution atmospheric modeling window centered over Northern BC towards the provision of detailed surface winds and other parameters near the surface. Develop hydrological modeling to support DFO's FVCOM. Coupling atmospheric and ocean models. Lead: R. Hogue, MSC RSC, Calgary AB, 4 February 2015 page 15

16 Response Tools Evaluate technologies and techniques for Physical and chemical mechanisms that serve to detect, contain, destroy or mitigate spilled petroleum products. Detection Portable instruments evaluation and protocol development for insediment shoreline oil and dispersed oil at sea Lead: P. Lambert, WS&T Countermeasures Dispersant testing fresh/weathered dilbit samples Continuing evaluation of dispersant, shoreline-treating agent and other products New protocol development Lead: B. Fieldhouse, P. Lambert, WS&T RSC, Calgary AB, 4 February 2015 page 16

17 Response Tools: Detection Oil profiling using portable instruments Identification and differentiation of oil (including dilbit) from background materials in-situ Infrared (FTIR) and fluorescence Detection and monitoring of oil (including dilbit) in the water column Towed fluorometers C-3 Turner RSC, Calgary AB, 4 February 2015 page 17

18 Response tools: Dispersant Effectiveness Two products tested so far: Access Western Blend (AWB) and Cold Lake Blend (CLB) Dispersant effectiveness (Corexit EC9500A) determined by the low-energy Swirling Flask Test & the high-energy Baffled Flask Test at temperatures from 5 to 25 C Dispersants were ineffective at all temperatures in the SFT, while the BFT had a positive response for most conditions Estimated Window of Opportunity for dispersant effectiveness limited to <12 hrs at temperatures below 15 C Dilbit products have very short windows for application of oil spill dispersants. RSC, Calgary AB, 4 February 2015 page 18

19 Outputs to date Publications Yang, C., Wang, Z., Yang, Z., Hollebone, B., Brown, C.E., Landriault, M., Fieldhouse, B., Chemical fingerprints of Alberta oil sands and related Products., (2011) Environmental Forensics, 12 (2), pp th AMOP Technical Seminar on Environmental Contamination and Response, June 2013 : Wang, Z., Yang, C., Yang, Z., Hollebone, B., Brown, C.E., Landriault, M., Fieldhouse, B., Liu, Y., Zhang, G., Hewitt, M., Parrott, J., Frank, R.A., Forensic source differentiation of petrogenic, pyrogenic, and biogenic hydrocarbons in Canadian oil sands environmental samples, (2013) Federal Government Technical Report, 2014 Environment Canada, Fisheries and Oceans Canada, Natural Resources Canada, Properties, Composition and Marine Spill Behaviour, Fate and Transport of Two Diluted Bitumen Products from the Canadian Oil Sands. E38ECED9B02F/1633_Dilbit%20Technical%20Report_e_v2%20FINAL-s.pdf EC Oil Properties Database RSC, Calgary AB, 4 February 2015 page 19

20 Outputs to date, continued International Oil Spill Conference - Poster M. Goldthorp, P. Lambert and C. Brown, Survey of Portable Oil Detection Methods. 37 th AMOP Technical Seminar on Environmental Contamination and Response, Canmore, AB June 2014 B. Fieldhouse, A. Mihailov, and V. Moruz, Weathering of Diluted Bitumen and the Implications to the Effectiveness of Dispersants, pp M. Goldthorp, B. Fieldhouse, P.G. Lambert, C. Yang, and C.E. Brown, Oil Profiling Using Portable Instruments, pp S. Laforest, P.G. Lambert, J. Duffe, L. Gamble, B. Chaudhary, and C.E. Brown, Studies on the Fate and Behaviour of Diluted Bitumen on Marine Shorelines, pp Future: Interspill 2015 B. Hollebone et al, Simulated Environmental Weathering Behaviours of Diluted Bitumen S. Laforest, P.G. Lambert and M. Goldthorp, The development of a shoreline oil spill R&D program for diluted bitumen on marine shorelines 38 th AMOP Technical Seminar on on Environmental Contamination and Response, BC RSC, Calgary AB, 4 February 2015 page 20

21 Ongoing work Preparedness to support response to potential spills: Adding new oils to the oil properties and composition database Input to Spill models Oil forensics for spill monitoring Pre-mapping continues in northern BC Testing of spill treating agents Spill modelling data (meteorology, hydrology, oil properties) Research and development to support improved response New research on dilbit behaviours: weathering, dispersion, sedimentation, shoreline stickiness and penetration Persistence to long-term breakdown Better response technologies and detection New physics for spill models. RSC, Calgary AB, 4 February 2015 page 21

22 RSC, Calgary AB, 4 February 2015 page 22

23 Contact Information Dr. Bruce Hollebone Emergencies Science and Technology Section Environment Canada Tel: (613) RSC, Calgary AB, 4 February 2015 page 23