The size and complexity of industrial chemical plants, together with the nature of the products handled, means that an analysis and control of the risks involved is required. This paper presents a methodology for risk analysis in chemical and allied industries that is based on a combination of HAZard and OPerability analysis (HAZOP) and a quantitative analysis of the most relevant risks through...

In North America, investment in unconventional oil extraction has increased due to the scarcity of conventional reserves. The rapid production growth has induced an extensive transportation activity, sometimes using aging pipelines and inadequate rail tank cars. Without surprise, in recent years, several high impact oil spills have occurred, as the taken place in Lac-Mégantic, the worst terrest...

April 20, 2010 marked the start of the British Petroleum Deepwater Horizon oil spill, the largest marine oil spill in US history, which contaminated coastal wetland ecosystems across the northern Gulf of Mexico. We used hyperspectral data from 2010 and 2011 to compare the impact of oil contamination and recovery of coastal wetland vegetation across three ecologically diverse sites: Barataria Ba...

Following the 2010 Deepwater Horizon oil spill, petroleum-related compounds and chemical dispersants were detected in the waters of the Gulf of Mexico. As a result, there was concern about the risk to human health through consumption of contaminated seafood in the region. Federal and Gulf Coast State agencies worked together on a sampling plan and analytical protocols to determine whether seafo...

Pacific herring embryos (Clupea pallasi) spawned three months following the Cosco Busan bunker oil spill in San Francisco Bay showed high rates of late embryonic mortality in the intertidal zone at oiled sites. Dead embryos developed to the hatching stage (e.g. fully pigmented eyes) before suffering extensive tissue deterioration. In contrast, embryos incubated subtidally at oiled sites showed ...

The use of microorganisms to destroy, or reduce the concentration of, hazardous wastes on a contaminated site is called bioremediation. Such a biological treatment system has various applications, including, clean up of contaminated sites such as water, soils, sludges, and waste streams. The treatment of the Alaskan shoreline of Prince Williams Sound after the oil spill of Exxon Valdez in 1989 ...

Over the past decades rapid growth in industrial and agricultural activities, waste disposal and etc., have significantly contributed to extensive soil contamination. Total petroleum hydrocarbons (TPHs) are one of the most common groups of persistent organic contaminants. To date, many developing countries like Iran have almost completely relinquished remediation of oil-polluted soils due to th...

Petroleum is a crucial resource that has globally influenced the scientific community and socio-economic development. However, its industrial processes negatively affect natural environment. This research aims to analyse intellectual structure of petroleum environment relationship in South American countries' contributions through bibliometric methods. The study presents methodology: i) establi...

It has been hypothesized that pink salmon eggs incubating in intertidal streams transecting Prince William Sound (PWS) beaches oiled by the Exxon Valdez oil spill were exposed to lethal doses of dissolved hydrocarbons. Since polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon (PAH) levels in the incubation gravel were too low to cause mortality, the allegation is that dissolved high-molecular-weight hydrocarbons (...

To assess the potential impact of the Deepwater Horizon oil spill on offshore ecosystems, 11 sites hosting deep-water coral communities were examined 3 to 4 mo after the well was capped. Healthy coral communities were observed at all sites >20 km from the Macondo well, including seven sites previously visited in September 2009, where the corals and communities appeared unchanged. However, at on...