Physical and Chemical Characterization of Crude Oil-Water Mixtures: Understanding the Effects of Interfacial Process to Chemical Bioavailability

Authors

Kathia a. Sandoval, Florida International UniversityFollow

Document Type

Thesis

Degree

Master of Science (MS)

Major/Program

Chemistry

First Advisor's Name

Piero R. Gardinali

First Advisor's Committee Title

Committee chair

Second Advisor's Name

Rudolf Jaffe

Second Advisor's Committee Title

Committee member

Third Advisor's Name

John Landrum

Third Advisor's Committee Title

Committee member

Keywords

Petroleum, toxicity, droplet size distribution, PAHs

Date of Defense

3-30-2016

Abstract

This work detailed the physical and chemical characterization of oil water mixtures prepared using fresh and weathered Macondo related oils under different conditions of mixing energy/time and in the presence/absence of chemical dispersants. The results indicated that WAFs produced consistent, droplet free solutions for both source and weathered oils with concentration ranges that represented the soluble components of the oil used. Chemically enhanced WAFs prepared with the source oil generated a large amount of micron-size droplets; however the viscosity of the weathered oils were a limiting factor for the preparation of CEWAFs with weathered oils. Droplet size distributions were influenced by the amount of energy in the system and the oil weathering stage, when high energy WAFs were made the increase in weathering of the oil resulted in the formation of smaller droplets that were more stable over time.

Identifier

FIDC000258

Recommended Citation

Sandoval, Kathia a., "Physical and Chemical Characterization of Crude Oil-Water Mixtures: Understanding the Effects of Interfacial Process to Chemical Bioavailability" (2016). FIU Electronic Theses and Dissertations. 2464.
https://digitalcommons.fiu.edu/etd/2464