The effect of pressure variation on droplet size distribution of dispersed oil under simulated deep-water conditions
Xing Song,
Liang Jing,
Bing Chen,
Zhiwen Zhu,
Qinhong Cai,
Xudong Ye,
Xiao Zheng,
Stephen J. Hill,
Baiyu Zhang
Affiliations
Xing Song
Northern Region Persistent Organic Pollution Control (NRPOP) Laboratory, Faculty of Engineering and Applied Science, Memorial University of Newfoundland, St. John's, NL A1B 3X5, Canada
Liang Jing
Northern Region Persistent Organic Pollution Control (NRPOP) Laboratory, Faculty of Engineering and Applied Science, Memorial University of Newfoundland, St. John's, NL A1B 3X5, Canada; Department of Chemical and Petroleum Engineering, Schulich School of Engineering, University of Calgary, Calgary, AB T2N 1N4, Canada
Bing Chen
Northern Region Persistent Organic Pollution Control (NRPOP) Laboratory, Faculty of Engineering and Applied Science, Memorial University of Newfoundland, St. John's, NL A1B 3X5, Canada; Corresponding author.
Zhiwen Zhu
Northern Region Persistent Organic Pollution Control (NRPOP) Laboratory, Faculty of Engineering and Applied Science, Memorial University of Newfoundland, St. John's, NL A1B 3X5, Canada
Qinhong Cai
Northern Region Persistent Organic Pollution Control (NRPOP) Laboratory, Faculty of Engineering and Applied Science, Memorial University of Newfoundland, St. John's, NL A1B 3X5, Canada; Department of Natural Resource Sciences, McGill University, Anne de Bellevue, QC H9X 3V9, Canada
Xudong Ye
Northern Region Persistent Organic Pollution Control (NRPOP) Laboratory, Faculty of Engineering and Applied Science, Memorial University of Newfoundland, St. John's, NL A1B 3X5, Canada
Xiao Zheng
Northern Region Persistent Organic Pollution Control (NRPOP) Laboratory, Faculty of Engineering and Applied Science, Memorial University of Newfoundland, St. John's, NL A1B 3X5, Canada
Stephen J. Hill
Department of Ocean Sciences, Memorial University of Newfoundland, St. John's, NL A1B 5S7, Canada
Baiyu Zhang
Northern Region Persistent Organic Pollution Control (NRPOP) Laboratory, Faculty of Engineering and Applied Science, Memorial University of Newfoundland, St. John's, NL A1B 3X5, Canada
Droplet size distribution of dispersed oil in deep-water is critical to the transport and biodegradation of spilled oil in deep-sea. Few studies have focused on the effects of pressure on chemically dispersed oil through experiments. This study thus simulated how the crude oil homogenously pre-dispersed by Corexit 9500A using baffled flasks would behave after being exposed to deep-water conditions. Key factors included dispersant-to-oil ratio (DOR), mixing energy (energy dissipation rate and Kolmogorov microscale), and pressure (up to 150 bar). The variations of pressure were demonstrated to have insignificant effects on the size distribution of pre-dispersed oil. Both the average and medium droplet sizes were correlated negatively with DOR and mixing energy in an established model with a p-value ≤ 0.0011. The log-normal and log-logistic distributions provided a reasonable fit to simulate the droplet size distribution. The two parameters of log-logistic distribution were dependent on DOR and mixing energy with a p-value < 0.005. The results would be valuable to advance the understanding of the behaviours and trajectories of chemically dispersed oil under deep-water conditions. The research helped provide more scientific evidence to improve the understanding of dispersed oil behaviours under high pressure and support deep-sea oil spill research and potential extension of the existing results from shallow water to deep water conditions.
