OSRR-595-Identification of Window of Opportunity for Chemical Dispersants on Gulf of Mexico Crude Oils

The objective of this research was to develop best-fit correlations between readily available fresh oil properties and the window of opportunity for successful chemical dispersant use on Gulf of Mexico crude oils.

The goals of the work were to:

Enter the fresh and weathered oil property information available in Environment Canada's oil property database for 30 oils from the Gulf of Mexico Region of the US OCS into the SL Ross oil spill model.
Use the SL Ross oil spill model to identify the time window for chemical dispersibility for each oil (based on oil or emulsion viscosity predictions) for oil spill scenarios using average environmental conditions for the US GOM.
Correlate fresh oil property information to the time window estimates to identify possible mathematical models for chemical dispersibility time window versus fresh oil properties.
Prepare a report documenting the oils used, the model input data, the spill modeling methods, the correlation results and the final best fit models of fresh oil property versus time window of opportunity for dispersant use.