Abstract
The dispersion effectiveness of dispersants containing Tween 80, Span 80, and dioctyl sodium sulfosuccinate (DOSS) was characterized using a modified Swirling Flask test, and was correlated with both initial and dynamic interfacial tension produced by those dispersants at an oil-water interface. Compositional trends in effectiveness were shown to be governed by: (1) initial oil-water interfacial tension observed upon dispersant-oil-saltwater contact; (2) rate of increase (or decrease) from the initial interfacial tension as DOSS was rapidly lost to the aqueous phase; and (3) gradually slowing kinetics of dispersant adsorption to the oil-water interface as Span 80 concentration was increased, which ultimately diminished dispersion effectiveness considerably even as dynamic interfacial tension remained <10-3mN/m. It is proposed that this third phenomenon results not only from the hydrophobicity of Span 80, but also from the dependence of mixed Tween-Span-DOSS reverse micelles' stability in crude oil on dispersant composition.
| Original language | English (US) |
|---|---|
| Pages (from-to) | 155-163 |
| Number of pages | 9 |
| Journal | Marine Pollution Bulletin |
| Volume | 84 |
| Issue number | 1-2 |
| DOIs | |
| State | Published - Jul 15 2014 |
Bibliographical note
Funding Information:The authors are grateful to Profs. Joe Zasadzinski, David Morse, and Lynn Walker for helpful discussion. This work was supported by a grant from the Gulf of Mexico Research Initiative (GoMRI) through the Consortium for the Molecular Engineering of Dispersants (C-MEDS).
Keywords
- Corexit
- Crude oil
- DOSS
- Dispersant
- Oil spill
- Surfactants
