page0939 |
Previous | 1 of 13 | Next |
|
|
Loading content ...
The Color Coding of Oil Spills LUIS A. ALFONZO, Research Associate HENRY G. SCHWARTZBERG, Associate Professor Chemical Engineering Department New York University New York, New York INTRODUCTION When an oil spill occurs it is frequently difficult to identify its source with enough certainty to sustain legal action against the parties responsible for the spill. If the oil carried with it a readily measurable and unique set of characteristics, similar to a person's fingerprints, identification would be easy. Let us call such a set of characteristics a code. A number of additives, or existing oil properties or composition factors have been suggested for use in formulating such a code. These have included the addition of radioactive tracers or analytically detectable trace elements or the use of trace elements naturally found in oils. If additives are to be used they would be added to a crude oil at the time of loading for shipment. In many instances these codes would require the use of sophisticated analytical techniques, such as activation analysis, or the measurement of radioactive decay patterns - techniques which are difficult to apply in any but the most up- to-date and complete analytical laboratories. Further, in many instances, it is difficult to be certain that the code will remain stable and unaltered as a spill weathers and ages, and as constituents are leached from the oil during prolonged contact with water. OIL SOLUBLE DYES One set of code forming additives which appears attractive with respect to ease of analysis, stability, and commercial availability is oil soluble dyes. Such dyes are virtually insoluble in water, and thus resistant to leaching. As an oil spill weathers and case hardens, the skin which forms should protect such dyes from oxidation by air. The opacity of the oil should protect the dyes from deteriorative action due to sunlight. In clear solvents such as toluene, hexane, or petroleum ether the concentration of such dyes can be readily measured at the 0.5 to ten parts per million (ppm) level by visible light absorbtion spectrophotometry. Because of the opacity and color of the oil it is necessary to separate the dyes from the oil prior to spectrophotometric analysis. CODING DENSITY The individual dye concentrations for a combination of such dyes would constitute the code. Using an absorbtion spectrophotometer with a 1.0 cm light path one can reliably measure concentration levels for individual dyes with a precision of roughly 0.5 parts per million. Thus by using dyes in the concentration range of 0 to 10 parts per million there would be twenty distinguishable levels for each dye. By using a 2.0 cm light path the number of distinguishable levels would be doubled. If there are M distinguishable dyes available, and only N of these M are used, and the number of distinguishable levels per dye is L, there are: L distinguishable codes. (M-N)! N! 939
Object Description
Purdue Identification Number | ETRIWC197283 |
Title | Color coding of oil spills |
Author |
Alfonzo, Luis A. Schwartzberg, Henry G. |
Date of Original | 1972 |
Conference Title | Proceedings of the 27th Industrial Waste Conference |
Conference Front Matter (copy and paste) | http://earchives.lib.purdue.edu/u?/engext,20246 |
Extent of Original | p. 939-951 |
Series | Engineering extension series no. 141 |
Collection Title | Engineering Technical Reports Collection, Purdue University |
Repository | Purdue University Libraries |
Rights Statement | Digital object copyright Purdue University. All rights reserved. |
Language | eng |
Type (DCMI) | text |
Format | JP2 |
Date Digitized | 2009-06-08 |
Capture Device | Fujitsu fi-5650C |
Capture Details | ScandAll 21 |
Resolution | 300 ppi |
Color Depth | 8 bit |
Description
Title | page0939 |
Collection Title | Engineering Technical Reports Collection, Purdue University |
Repository | Purdue University Libraries |
Rights Statement | Digital object copyright Purdue University. All rights reserved. |
Language | eng |
Type (DCMI) | text |
Format | JP2 |
Capture Device | Fujitsu fi-5650C |
Capture Details | ScandAll 21 |
Transcript | The Color Coding of Oil Spills LUIS A. ALFONZO, Research Associate HENRY G. SCHWARTZBERG, Associate Professor Chemical Engineering Department New York University New York, New York INTRODUCTION When an oil spill occurs it is frequently difficult to identify its source with enough certainty to sustain legal action against the parties responsible for the spill. If the oil carried with it a readily measurable and unique set of characteristics, similar to a person's fingerprints, identification would be easy. Let us call such a set of characteristics a code. A number of additives, or existing oil properties or composition factors have been suggested for use in formulating such a code. These have included the addition of radioactive tracers or analytically detectable trace elements or the use of trace elements naturally found in oils. If additives are to be used they would be added to a crude oil at the time of loading for shipment. In many instances these codes would require the use of sophisticated analytical techniques, such as activation analysis, or the measurement of radioactive decay patterns - techniques which are difficult to apply in any but the most up- to-date and complete analytical laboratories. Further, in many instances, it is difficult to be certain that the code will remain stable and unaltered as a spill weathers and ages, and as constituents are leached from the oil during prolonged contact with water. OIL SOLUBLE DYES One set of code forming additives which appears attractive with respect to ease of analysis, stability, and commercial availability is oil soluble dyes. Such dyes are virtually insoluble in water, and thus resistant to leaching. As an oil spill weathers and case hardens, the skin which forms should protect such dyes from oxidation by air. The opacity of the oil should protect the dyes from deteriorative action due to sunlight. In clear solvents such as toluene, hexane, or petroleum ether the concentration of such dyes can be readily measured at the 0.5 to ten parts per million (ppm) level by visible light absorbtion spectrophotometry. Because of the opacity and color of the oil it is necessary to separate the dyes from the oil prior to spectrophotometric analysis. CODING DENSITY The individual dye concentrations for a combination of such dyes would constitute the code. Using an absorbtion spectrophotometer with a 1.0 cm light path one can reliably measure concentration levels for individual dyes with a precision of roughly 0.5 parts per million. Thus by using dyes in the concentration range of 0 to 10 parts per million there would be twenty distinguishable levels for each dye. By using a 2.0 cm light path the number of distinguishable levels would be doubled. If there are M distinguishable dyes available, and only N of these M are used, and the number of distinguishable levels per dye is L, there are: L distinguishable codes. (M-N)! N! 939 |
Resolution | 300 ppi |
Color Depth | 8 bit |
Tags
Comments
Post a Comment for page0939