That makes no difference. Crude oil isn't a homogeneous substance out of the ground anyway, it has sand, mud, water, etc A variety of settling tanks, centrifuges, and RO membranes can be used to successfully separate the lighter aromatics, heavier compounds, and water. Due to the much higher naphthalene content of the Gulf crude - a higher molecular weight - that oil will tend to emulsify in seawater much more readily than "regular" crude. This means the oil will not readily go to the surface and be broken down naturally. There are biological mechanisms that will allow natural biodegradation but this has the side effect of having a very high BOD in sensitive coral areas and areas frequented by marine life As a result, any water recovered from such a centrifuge or separation operation will have contamination with those high molecular weight substances. Further treatment with RO membranes will be required to make the water "safe"
Bingo, You explained in a manner much better than I could, why crude oil seldom resembles the crankcase oil that we know (and expect in our minds eye) to be washing up to the surface. Icarus
NBC Nightly News had some decent coverage on this today, partly from a barge very close to the ships where the rig used to be. See [ame=http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/3032619/vp/37861145#37861145]NBC Nightly News with Brian Williams: News and videos from the evening broadcast NBC Nightly News with Brian Williams: News and videos from the evening broadcast- msnbc.com[/ame]. The show the flames from the natural gas and oil that's been burned.
Yesterday I was able to watch ROV Enterprise re-seat the cap. I picked up some screen shots but it was absolutely fascinating. Bob Wilson
So now we are a full two months in, and at the very least, it looks like at least another 2 months of this madness! On top of that, we have hurricane season upon us, that will in all likely hood disrupt the recovery/clean up/relief well operation at some point before it is finally plugged! And now at the same time, the chorus of Drill, baby, Drill! is coming back loud and clear! Our "hero" Bobby Jindal seen on the news applauding the court ruling suspending the drilling moratorium, saying it is time to "go back to work"! Unbelievable!
Anybody care to comment on this? Anderson Cooper 360: Blog Archive - Video: Was leak ignored on doomed oil rig? If this is true, then at the very least having an Acoustic control interface would have made no difference whatsoever. If the hydraulic control pack was indeed leaking, it is scandalous of BP and TransOcean to have ignored it No matter what the technology, it must be regularly inspected and kept in good repair
It's been long enough to get some official preliminary reports out about what happened. It definitely has been long enough for BP to know what happened. And the word is.....(Crickets going chirp,...chirp.) It looks like when 11 of your friends are killed, the pressure to keep quiet is overcome by the need to get the word out so you don't become the next victim. One of these days, in the far future, it will be figured out that the operational standards and safety requirements cannot be set by the production officials. These must be set and enforced by a truly independent technical standards/safety organization.
(joke time) . . . Today, BP installed new equipment to stop the oil spill - what the industry calls, a 'wedding ring'. Immediately, the well stopped putting out. .
So now we are into the beginning of the fourth month of this madness! Who would have thought at the end of April, we would still be talking bout this in July? And yet, in spite of Hurricanes in the Gulf, the spill damage getting bigger and bigger, the threat that big seas will force the oil further into the marshes, further down the Florida beaches, we still hear the rant, "Drill Baby, Drill". We have indeed met the enemy and he is us!
me me me!! i said back when it first happened, it would be the worst disaster ever would be the catalyst for a major shift in capital expenditures and the leak estimate was going to continuously increase now obama has spoken; what will actually happen remains to be seen. but the first thing we need to do is triple the money for the EV highway project. that would put the fund at a level almost equal to our weekly gas bill
Well duh... they said the relief wells (best option and SOP) wouldn't be done till mid August. I am sure everyone was hoping and praying the caps would help but it was just a long shot. Can't imagine how things are going to look down there after Alex runs its course.
Quite frankly, Alex is over and done. What is of course the bigger issue is what happens if (when?) we get one of a number of predicted hurricanes between now and when the well is eventually capped? As I suggested in an earlier post, a hurricane event could stop any gathering at the well site for up to 14 days. We can cross our fingers that the relief well will score on it's first crack, but that is far from a sure thing. Add to that, hurricane season, and the future looks as bleak as it did in April.
Even after the well is capped, there will be plenty of oil sloshing around in the gulf - basically every hurricane that blows through the gulf will continue to stir up oil and spread it over land.
It is possible however, that once the damn thing is capped, that a bunch of hurricanes might, I stress might, be a good thing. It might help to break up the oil and serve to disperse it quicker. It might also highlight the folly of encouraging more "Drill, baby, drill!
And now,, Lake Ponchatrane (sp?) the Texas Gulf coast, and still no end in sight. Fall bird migration now at risk! And Bobby Jindal self servingly say "the federal government should take this more seriously! Get a grip folks, this is a tax on our oil addiction and we will pay for years if not generations!