How to Respond in Case your Oil Tanker has Grounded Offshore - Quiz

Quiz Question

1. Chemical dispersants are mixtures that contain "surface-active" chemical (surfactants) and solvent(s). It is the surfactants that actually cause the oil to disperse into tiny droplets that remain suspended in the water column due to wave action.
True
False
2. Oil is not one "thing"; It is a complex and highly variable mixture of compounds. Crude oil is a complex mixture of hydrocarbons, and to a smaller extent compounds containing trace metals. Hydrocarbons( including asphaltenes and waxes) are the most abundant compounds in crude oil.
True
False
3. in general there are essentially three groups of hydrocarbons in every oil, light- weight components, medium-weight components and heavy-weight components.
True
False
4. The five most commonly considered responses to on-water oil spills are:

a. No response.
b. Mechanical clean up and physical removal
c. The addition of chemical dispersant agents.
d. In-situ burnin
e. Bioremediation with nutrient or microbial additions.

True
False
5. Through the mixing energy provided by wind, waves, and current the chemically dispersed oil droplets will be rapidly distributed into the upper ten meters of the water column and remain dispersed in the water column.
True
False
6. Once dispersant application has commenced it is valuable to monitor the application to determine if:

  • The dispersant was applied at the appropriate dosage in the correct locations.
  • The dispersant is working effectively
  • There are any obvious (qualitative) ecological effects
True
False
7. Bioremediation is a long-term clean-up option; it does not provide a "quick fix". Over the long periods of time (months to tens of years), naturally occurring microbes will convert the remaining oil into its basic components; carbon dioxide and water.
True
False
8. Figure 2 in page 7 illustrate:
Mechanism of Surfactant in oil spilled water
Mecahnical clean up option
In-situ burning
9. In-Situ burning is typically only viable for fresh oils that have not undergone much weathering, oils maintained in slicks that are 2 to 10 mm or greater in thickness, and oils that have not emulsion or emulsion with less than 50 percent water incorporated.
True
False
10. Which one of the following Table 4 illustrates:
Comparison and definitions of sea conditions
Comparison of different hydrocarbon levels
A bioremediation chart for a shoreline oil spill.