Oil From what forces are expelling the oil from the reservoir in the gulf?
To extract oil from land based oil rigs it must be pumped out. i.e. energy must be put in to extract the oil from the ground once the hole has been drilled. I'm assuming BP would have turned off their pumps if that was what was expelling the oil from the reservoir into the gulf, so some naturally occurring forces are obviously at work. For the oil to be expelled at the rate that it is it has to be more than the relative density of oil and water. I've searched the internet, admittedly only for a few minutes, and haven't been able to find the physical process that is offshore oil drilling.
Wells only need to be pumped if 1) the weight of the oil and contained water is heavier than the reservoir can lift or 2) the reservoir pressure is less than the weight of a static column of oil (0.33 psi/ft) or 3) you are unhappy with the rate achieved by natural flow and want to increase volumes.
This well would not require a pump for many many years after it's production has been onstream!
First glimpse of gushing oil from Gulf of Mexico spill
Natural Methods of Oil Spill Cleanup
Oil spills occur due to leakage from improper oil tanks, offshore drilling, or faulty pipelines. Disorganized transportation of oil is another important factor that leads to oil spills. It is important to act fast to clean up an oil spill and prevent the oil from spreading to a bigger area. When it comes to oil spill cleanup, crude oil and their derivatives are the worst. Traditional oil spill cleanup methods such as incineration, used especially for crude oil spill cleanup, are expensive and are also considered extremely harmful to the environment. So, natural methods of oil spill cleanup are always sought after.
A group of scientists from the Department of Industrial Microbiology at University College, Dublin, conducted a research on the action of certain microbes in tackling with the pollutants in an oil spill. Their research showed the exceptionally diverse nature of these microbes. While some of the constituents of oil proved to be toxic to some of the bacteria, other bacteria were capable of using the oil compounds as food ultimately breaking them down.
According to researchers, simply adding microbes to the spilled oil or the oil stain will not work. Only specific bacteria work upon the oil components to break them down into harmless compounds. Choosing the most applicable bacteria will only help in cleaning up an oil spill. Manipulation and usage of natural microbial populations is necessary to break down the contaminants and bring back the environment to its original form.
Bioremediation has proven to be natural and effective process to gradually destroy the harmful pollutants in oil spills and remove oil stains. It only calls for the use of a specific set of bacteria that will work on any contaminated site. Oil Gone Easy S-200 is one such oil spill cleaner that makes use of the bioremediation technology effectively and cleans not just soil and marine oil spills, but also oil stains from any surface at home.
This entry was posted by admin on October 26, 2009 at 3:59 pm, and is filed under laser treatment for acne scars. Follow any responses to this post through RSS 2.0.
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