RAPID: Photochemical Fate of Oil Dispersants Used in the Gulf Oil Spill Clean-up

摘要：项目负责人：Karl linden提案编号：1043818机构：科罗拉多大学博尔德分校标题：墨西哥湾漏油清理中使用的石油分散剂的光化学命运本研究是针对英国石油公司（BP）位于路易斯安那州海岸外的墨西哥湾深水地平线石油钻井平台发生爆炸后的事件进行的。英国石油公司正在采取的一种策略是使用分散剂来阻止石油向海岸线的流动。分散剂的设计目的是将大的油球分解成更易于生物降解的小液滴。然而，分散剂的使用比以往任何时候都要大量，并且被注入到石油泄漏源的水下深处。美国环境保护署（EPA）非常关注所使用分散剂的毒性，并向英国石油公司发布了一项指令。从环保署授权的分散剂名单中找出并使用毒性更小、更有效的分散剂。该提案已提交给RAPID计划，以提供与此人为灾害相关的快速响应研究。根据这项RAPID提案进行的研究是研究泄漏清理工作中使用的分散剂的光化学命运，以确定阳光驱动的过程可以降解所用化学物质的程度。表面活性剂和碳氢化合物扩散到海洋中的环境命运相对未知。本研究的目的是：(1)开发一种分析方法，使用质谱指纹分析在实验室中跟踪分散剂（COREXIT）的衰变；(2)研究COREXIT在实验室级水和合成海水中的阳光驱动降解；(3)获取含有分散剂的水的环境样本，并研究在背景水基质和溢油存在下的日光衰减；(4)根据墨西哥湾的阳光对水面的影响，模拟并估计分散剂中可识别化学物质的半衰期。这一建议的智力价值在于发展基础数据和应用数据，这些数据将有助于预测排放到墨西哥湾的分散剂的光化学命运。基础数据包括速率常数、量子产率和自由基反应速率，而应用信息涉及化学物质的半衰期和化学影响的长期潜力。这个项目的广泛影响将主要集中在通过媒体、公共讨论会和与石油泄漏的环境影响有关的政府机构传播结果。他们在前往墨西哥湾调查该地区和收集样本期间的活动将通过网络帖子和Twitter等渠道进行交流。这些微博和网络活动将在2010/11年秋季和春季的科罗拉多大学博尔德分校的课堂上进行交流，例如环境工程基础。考虑到这次灾难事件对环境的影响以及正在实施的应对这种情况的技术，该团队将使用项目中的信息并将其纳入课程材料中，作为加州大学博尔德分校NSF新资助的GK-12的一部分。获得RAPID项目资助的学生也将参与GK-12资助，并将结果纳入针对石油勘探利弊的课程，以及这些领域对工程师的需求。在装有分散剂的烧杯中模拟石油泄漏的简单实验也将作为一种“动手操作”的方法进行开发。活动。

AbstractPI: Karl LindenProposal Number: 1043818Institution: University of Colorado at BoulderTitle: Photochemical Fate of Oil Dispersants Used in the Gulf Oil Spill Clean-upThis research is in response to events subsequent to an explosion on the British Petroleum (BP) Deepwater Horizon Oil Rig in the Gulf of Mexico off the coast of Louisiana. One strategy that BP is taking to stem the flow of oil toward the shoreline is the use of dispersants. Dispersants are designed to break up large globules of oil into smaller droplets that would be more amenable to biodegradation. However, the use of dispersants is being carried out in larger quantities than ever before and being injected deep underwater at the source of the oil leak. The US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is extremely concerned about the toxicity of the dispersant being used and issued a directive to BP ?to identify and use a less toxic and more effective dispersant from the list of EPA authorized dispersants?. This proposal was submitted to the RAPID program to provide quick response research relating to this anthropogenic disaster. The research to be performed under this RAPID proposal is to study the photochemical fate of the dispersants used in the spill clean-up effort to determine the extent to which sunlight driven processes can degrade the chemicals used. The environmental fate of the surfactants and hydrocarbons being spread into the ocean are relatively unknown. The objectives of this study are to (1) develop an analytical method to follow the decay of the dispersant (COREXIT) in the laboratory using a mass spectral fingerprint analysis; (2) Investigate the sunlight driven degradation of COREXIT in laboratory grade water and synthetic ocean waters; (3) Obtain environmental samples of water containing the dispersant and study the sunlight decay in the presence of the background water matrix and oil from the spill; and (4) Model and estimate the half life of identifiable chemicals in the dispersant, based on sunlight fluences experienced in the Gulf on the water surface.The intellectual merit of this proposal is to develop both fundamental and applied data that will help predict the photochemical fate of dispersants discharged into the Gulf of Mexico. Fundamental data include rate constants, quantum yields, and radical reaction rates, while the applied information relates to half-life of the chemicals and long-term potential for chemical impacts. The broader impacts for this project will focus mostly on the dissemination of results via media, public seminars and governmental agencies concerned with the environmental impacts of the oil spill. Their activities during travel to the gulf to survey the region and collect samples will be communicated using outlets such as web postings and Twitter. These tweets and Internet activity will be communicated to classes in session at University of Colorado-Boulder such as Fundamentals of Environmental Engineering in Fall and Spring 2010/11. Given the environmental significance of this disaster event and the technologies being implemented to deal with the situation, the team will use the information from the project and incorporate it into course material as part of a newly funded GK-12 by NSF at UC-Boulder. The student funded on this RAPID project will also participate in the GK-12 grant and will incorporate the results into lessons targeting the pros and cons of oil exploration and also the need for engineers in these areas. A simple experiment where an oil leak is simulated in a beaker, complete with dispersants, will also be developed as a ?hands-on? activity.