Oil spills debris clean up by thermal desorption

Oil spills represent a significant environmental issue in Brazil. This paper presents the latest results of a comprehensive experimental programme aimed at understanding how the presence of spilled oil affects the properties of sands and at studying alternatives to remediate the affected shores. Results indicate that oil causes a slight increase in grain size and uniformity, and oiled debris presents a smaller void ratio but a larger unit weight. It was also observed that effective strength parameters for both the natural and oiled debris were the same although the undrained strength of a natural sand is much higher than that of the contaminated sand. At ambient temperature, oiled debris emits methane and ammonia, and these emissions tend to increase with rising temperatures. On the other hand, the oil and grease content from oiled debris decreases with rising temperature and prolonged exposure. Finally, in situ thermal desorption seems to be a promising method for cleaning debris from oil spills. It is simple, fast and avoids all the difficulties associated with digging up the soil for disposal or cleanup. (C) 2004 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.