The objective of this project was advance the state of the art and knowledge in chemical dispersant use when injected into a subsea oil, or oil and gas, release.
The project was accomplished in a series of tasks, as described below.
Task 1 Bench and Small Scale Testing: SL Ross conducted a testing program in the laboratory to investigate the role of natural gas in the gas-dispersant-oil system and to evaluate measurement methods to quantify the oil drop and gas bubble plumes resulting from a treated or untreated subsea release. SL Ross conducted bench-scale tests in the SL Ross laboratory to investigate the role of natural gas in the gas-dispersant-water-oil system. SL Ross also evaluated possible techniques for the measurement of the oil drops and gas bubble plumes that might be appropriate for the proposed small and large tank tests. Once the bench-scale tests were completed SL Ross moved to small-scale tests in the SL Ross wind/wave tank. Natural gas was used in these tests. The tests investigated dispersant effectiveness (DE) as a function of basic parameters such as oil type, dispersant to oil ratio, and dispersant injection location.
Task 2 Large Scale Testing: SL Ross conducted a dispersant effectiveness testing program at Ohmsett to test the effectiveness of chemical injection in subsea plumes at larger scale and over longer time frames. A two-week large-scale testing program was conducted using the measurement techniques and equipment developed in Task 1. Applied Research Associates, Inc. (ARA) personnel attended the Ohmsett testing to measure the oil and gas plume characteristics with their ultrasound device. Dispersant effectiveness was investigated as a function of the same basic parameters as those identified in Task 1 to evaluate the impact of scale on the results.
The project is complete. The final report is posted below.