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January 07 2011
Beef Fat Spill Turns the Houston Ship Channel Into a Clogged Artery
Fat is in the news: Not just because of the world’s obesity problems, but because one agriculture company accidentally fattened up the Houston Ship Channel on Tuesday by spilling 15,000 gallons of beef tallow into it.
The fat was in an onshore storage tank owned by agricultural company Jacob Sterns and Sons, which for unknown reasons leaked about 250,000 gallons of animal fat. About 15,000 gallons seeped into the channel through a storm drain, and immediately solidified after hitting the water, Coast Guard spokesman Richard Brahm told The Wall Street Journal:
“Luckily the stuff is easy to clean up,” Mr. Brahm said. “It solidifies at room temperature, so as soon as it hit the water it just kind of sat there.”
The floating fat looks like a collection of dirty little icebergs (officially called “patties”), but is causing some problems. Three quarters of the northern end of the channel had to be shut down for the cleanup effort–luckily it didn’t block tanker traffic along the waterway.
The US Coast Guard helped clean up the fat in the channel, and finished pitch forking and booming the ...
December 06 2010
How to Prep for Oil Spills: Dump 210,000 Gallons of Popcorn in the Water
One large bucket of popcorn, please, hold the salt, oil, and butter. Actually, make that 210,000 gallons of popcorn. We have an oil spill to re-enact.
Brazilian oil spill clean-up experts leapt into action last week to clean up a popcorn spill that makes movie theater accidents seem pretty tame. It turns out that popcorn makes a good approximation for spilled oil, explains the EFE, a Spanish news agency:
Although it sounds quaint, popcorn has been used to replace oil in simulations for over ten years by [Petrobras]. After testing seeds and grains, the experts found several positive factors in the popcorn: it is biodegradable–prepared without salt and no cooking oil–gives good flotation and serves as food for fish.
The popcorn spill was set up in the Rio Negro outside of Manaus, Brazil by the oil company Petrobras and the Brazilian navy. The organizations were keen to test their readiness to respond to spills because oil companies drill in the nearby Amazon, and transport their oil through the river’s delta. Petrobras’ spokesperson explained to EFE:
“Major emergencies do not happen often, then it is a fantastic opportunity to exercise the team and technology,” said regional manager of Petrobras’ contingency, Márcio Derton, who completed stating that “contingency is the keyword of the moment.”
The flood of popcorn was supposed to simulate a mid-sized tanker running around in the river and spilling several thousand gallons of oil over several days. National and international crews were called in to contain the spill, explains Treehugger:
Fortunately, it didn’t take long before an oil company’s emergency clean-up crew was mobilized to tackle the floating patches of popped kernels with around 30 boats, 6,500 feet of containment boom, and five skimmers as airplanes coordinated the effort overhead.
The simulation was part of the International Mobilization, Preparedness & Response Exercise meeting, and was the first to simulate oil clean-up in flowing river water, instead of at sea.
Related Content:
Discoblog: Heart-Stopping Cinematic Excitement: Guess How Much Fat Is in Movie Popcorn?
Discoblog: The Sweet Sound of Seepage: Listening to the Oil Spill
80beats: Massive Coral Die-Off Found Just 7 Miles from BP Oil Spill Site
80beats: Gulf Oil Spill: Do Chemical Dispersants Pose Their Own Environmental Risk?
Not Exactly Rocket Science: Oil-eating bacteria have started to clean the Deepwater Horizon spill
DISCOVER: The Physics of…Popcorn
Image: Último Segundo/Bruno Rico
November 17 2010
The Sweet Sound of Seepage: Listening to the Oil Spill
We all heard about the Deepwater Horizon oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico. But what if scientists could have actually HEARD it?
In the wake of the disaster, several scientists are working to develop new ways to spot and monitor spills over time using sonar–by propagating sonic waves through the water and bouncing them off oil droplets. Some of this research is being done by Thomas Weber and will be presented today at the Pan-American/Iberian Meeting on Acoustics.
Sonar is useful because it can monitor large and deep swaths of the ocean, and could reduce the need to take individual samples or to visually track oil on the water’s surface. Weber and his team were the first to try using this technology to visualize the oil, going out on several trips to the site, Weber told ScienceNOW:
“We were really doing crisis science…. There were no proven methods for doing this.”
Weber’s team used sound waves to probe below the ocean’s surface. They found that frequencies around 200 kilohertz were best for tracking the type of oil droplets released from the Deepwater spill, and were able to detect the oil plume, says ScienceNOW. But those frequencies don’t penetrate deep into the water (they max out at about 500 feet), and they couldn’t reach the depth of the leaking oil valve (about 5,000 feet). But the team did experiment with using lower frequencies to detect density changes in deeper waters, which were thought to indicate oil plumes, and they’re planning to test a sonar system that could be lowered into the depths.
After the well was capped, the team returned to the site to look for natural gas bubbles, which are easier to detect at extreme depths. Mapping the natural vents are in the area and watching for gas seeping from the Deepwater well gave them a good idea of the cap’s stability. Take a look at the author’s write-up here for more information on their work and results.
Related Content:
80beats: Massive Coral Die-Off Found Just 7 Miles from BP Oil Spill Site
80beats: Obama Administration Lifts Deep-Water Drilling Moratorium
80beats: 5 Offshore Oil Hotspots Beyond the Gulf That Could Boom–or Go Boom
80beats: BP’s Oil Well of Doom Is Declared Officially, Permanently Dead
80beats: Whales vs. Navy: NOAA May Limit Sonar Tests, but Another Case Heads to Court
80beats: Sonar Damage to Dolphins’ Hearing Is Akin to the “Rock-Concert Effect”
Not Exactly Rocket Science: Oil-eating bacteria have started to clean the Deepwater Horizon spill
Image: Tom Weber/Univ. of New Hampshire
June 10 2010
What Happens When a BP Exec Spills His Coffee–and More Cathartic Comedy
Need a little relief from oil-soaked pelicans and dead dolphins, angry Louisiana officials and ambiguous BP representatives, top kills and containment domes?
The following hope to entertain, amuse, and mitigate (temporarily) depression and despair.
A New Logo
Greenpeace has started a contest to create a more fitting BP logo, such as the one on the left, featured on flickr. The flickr page boasts almost 1,000 fury-fueled entries so far.
A PR Twitter Feed
Fictional updates all day long about BP’s goings-on.
“Wait, Oil PLUMES? We thought you asked about oil PLUMS in the ocean. How silly! Yes, yes, there are TONS of oil plumes!”
A Coffee Spill?
Upright Citizens Brigade Theatre has given viewers a look at what might happen after a BP executive spills his coffee.
“Everybody calm down. I’ve got Kevin Costner on the phone. He’ll know what to do for sure.”
Recent posts on the Gulf oil spill:
80beats: Meet the Oil-Covered Pelicans, Symbols of the BP Oil Spill
80beats: This Hurricane Season Looks Rough, And What If One Hits the Oil Spill?
80beats: We Did the Math: BP Oil Spill Is Now Worse Than the Exxon Valdez
80beats: “Top Kill” Operation Is Under Way in Attempt to Stop Gulf Oil Leak
80beats: Scientists Say Gulf Spill Is Way Worse Than Estimated. How’d We Get It So Wrong?
Image: flickr / Amy Phetamine
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