The efficacy of in-situ burning as a counter measure to oil spills in Arctic marine waters

随着气候变化导致北极海冰覆盖减少和无冰夏季延长，加拿大北部这一敏感地区的航运和工业活动正在增加。因此，消失的海冰使北极地区容易受到不同类型石油和燃料污染意外释放的影响，从而迫切需要科学知识来支持该地区的监管政策制定。 溢油原位燃烧（ISB）作为一种溢油清理对策，因其相对于其他对策的独特优势而获得认可。该技术可以将大量石油转化为其主要燃烧产物二氧化碳和水。它需要较少的设备和劳动力，并且可以应用于北极等地区，而由于缺乏响应基础设施和/或缺乏替代方案，许多其他方法无法应用于这些地区。 石油燃烧还会产生主要由黑碳（烟灰）组成的浓黑烟。这些烟雾颗粒还可能含有（或涂有）浓缩有机化合物、硫酸盐。燃烧还会产生气态污染物，如 CO、NOX、SO2 和多种挥发性有机化合物 (VOC)。最值得关注的是致癌性更高的热解产生的颗粒（亚微米）结合的多环母体 PAH。这引起了严重的健康问题，因为石油燃烧可能会增加可吸入颗粒物和有毒气体的浓度。 ISB 最近对 2010 年深水地平线漏油事件中的油样进行的研究表明，油燃烧过程中分配到水相中的极性芳香族化合物的浓度增加了一倍。使用傅里叶变换离子回旋共振质谱 (FTICR-MS)，这些化合物的子集被鉴定为高度浓缩的 PAH 和潜在更危险的含氧化合物。虽然 FTICR-MS 是一种用于表征复杂混合物（例如油（和烧油））的强大技术，但仪器的局限性限制了可以对化学成分进行的结构预测。因此，迫切需要鉴定这些水溶性极性有机热解化合物的结构特征，以便更好地了解其分子产生途径和明确的结构鉴定，并进行更全面的毒理学研究。 这项拟议的研究将识别和量化各种类型的燃料油在不同的北极海洋环境情景下暴露于原位燃烧时的水溶性热解产物和大气排放。它将提供进行进一步的环境过程和毒理学研究所需的重要信息，并为监管机构、非政府组织和土著组织以及私营部门所需的 ISB 使用政策（单独或与其他缓解技术相结合）做出贡献。

As climate change brings reduced sea ice cover and longer ice-free summers in the Arctic, northern Canada is experiencing an increase in shipping and industrial activity in this sensitive region. Disappearing sea ice therefore makes the Arctic region susceptible to accidental releases of different types of oil and fuel pollution resulting in a pressing need for scientific knowledge to underlie regulatory policy formulation in this area. In situ burning (ISB) of spilled oil as an oil spill cleanup countermeasure is gaining acceptance because of its distinct advantages over other countermeasures. This technique can convert large quantities of oil into its primary combustion products, CO2 and H2O. It requires less equipment and labour and can be applied in areas such as the Arctic where many other methods cannot due to lack of response infrastructure and/or lack of alternatives. Burning of oil also produces dense black smoke primarily composed of black carbon (soot). These smoke particles can also contain (or be coated with) condensed organic compounds, sulphates. Burning also produces gaseous pollutants such as CO, NOX, SO2, and a wide range of volatile organic compounds (VOCs). Of most concern are the more carcinogenic pyrogenically produced particle (submicron) bound multi-ring parent PAHs. This raises serious health concerns with respect to the potential for increasing concentrations of respirable particles and toxic gases from the burning of oil. Recent ISB studies conducted on oil sampled from the 2010 Deep Water Horizon Oil Spill, showed that the oil burning process doubled the concentrations of the polar aromatic compounds partitioning into the water phase. Using Fourier Transform Ion Cyclotron Resonance Mass Spectrometry (FTICR-MS) subsets of these compounds were identified as being highly condensed PAHs and the potentially more hazardous oxygenated compounds. While FTICR-MS is a powerful technique for the characterization of complex mixtures such as oil (and burned oil) the instrumental limitations constrain the structural predictions that can be made regarding the chemical composition. There is a strong need, therefore, to identify the structural characteristics of these water soluble polar organic pyrogenic compounds so as to better understand the pathways of their molecular production and unambiguous structural identifications and allowing for more comprehensive toxicological studies. This proposed research will identify and quantify water soluble pyrogenic transformation products and atmospheric emissions of various types of fuel oils when exposed to in-situ burning under varying Arctic marine environmental scenarios. It will provide vital information needed to conduct further environmental process and toxicological studies and contribute to ISB usage policies (alone or in combination with other mitigation technologies) needed by regulatory agencies, nongovernmental and Indigenous organizations, and the private sector.