This paper provides an overview of oil spills, their causes and environmental effects. It discusses how oil spills occur mainly as a result of human activities like oil exploration and transport. The paper outlines several methods used to control oil spills, such as using oil booms, sorbents, and dispersal agents to clean up affected areas. It also discusses the environmental and economic impacts of oil spills, which can be devastating and take a long time to remediate.

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OIL SPILL AND ITS ENVIRONMENTAL EFFECTS, CAUSES AND METHODS OF
CONTROL
BY
SAFIYA ABDULKADIR
ADM.NO.1310312100
A SEMINAR PRESENTED TO THE DEPERTMENT OF PURE AND APPLIED
CHEMISTRY, FACULTY OF SCIENCE, USMANU DANFODIO UNIVERSITY,
SOKOTO, IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENTO REQUIREMENTS FOR THE AWARD OF
THE DEGREE OF BACHELOR OF SCIENCE (BSc.HONS) APPLIED CHEMISTRY
SUPERVISED BY
DR. M. N. ALMUSTAPHA
MAY, 2017

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SUMMARY
This paper is an over view of oil spill, type of pollution that occurs mostly on water as
well as on land that can have devastating effects on plant and animal life, and the
environments. It occurs mainly as a result of human activity (exploration and transport of
oil) and is the release of oil/liquid petroleum hydrocarbon into the aquatic environment
such as oceans and coastal water and on land.Oil spill happens on large scale and is
mostly seen in water bodies.

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1.0 INTRODUCTION
An oil spill happens when liquid petroleum is released into the environment by vehicle,
vessel or pipeline. It happens on a large scale and is mostly seen in water bodies. It
happens due to human negligence and is a major form of pollution. The sources of the
spills are many. Crude oil can be released by tankers on land and In water bodies. The
spill occurs due to drilling of rigs, offshore, oil platforms and well. Oil spills and their
effects can also be experienced with refined petroleum or even waste oil from large
scale industries. What is common in all of them is that the damage caused by them is
permanent and takes a long time to clean up. (Broekema, 2015).
1.1 DEFINITION OF OIL SPILL
Oil spills are the harmful release of liquid petroleum hydrocarbon into the
environment, especially marine areas, due to human activity, and is a form of pollution.
The term is usually applied to marine oil spills, where oil is released into marine area, oil
is also released into the ocean or coastal water body and it may also occur on land.
Oilspill may be due to releases of crude oil from tankers, offshore platforms, drilling rigs
and wells, and as well as spills from refined petroleum products(such as gasoline , and
diesel) and their by –products. Heavier fuels used by large ships such as bunker fuel, or
the spill of any oily refuse or waste oil. (Rahman,2016).
1.2 CAUSES OF OIL SPILL
The cause of oil spill is due to drilling of rigs, offshore, oil platform wells and faulty
pipelines. Oil spills can have disastrous consequences for society economically,
environmentally and socially. As a result, oil spill accidents have intense media attention

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and political uproar, bringing many together in a political struggle concerning
government response to oil spills and what actions can best prevent them from
happening.( Robertson and Krauss, 2010).
Figure no 1 showing oil spill

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1.3 EFFECTS OF OIL SPILL
Figure no 2 showing effect of oil spill
1. Environmental Effects: First of these is the environmental effect. The animal life
that lives in the water or near the shore is the most affected by the spill. In most cases,
the oil simply chokes the animals to death.
2. Effect on Economy: The second major effect of the oil spill is seen on the economy.
When precious crude oil or refined petroleum is lost, it affects the amount of petroleum
and gas available for use. This means more barrels have to be imported from other
countries.

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1.4 METHODS OF CONTROL
Figure no 3 showing how oil spill is controlled
Oil spills are a very dangerous occurrence for marine ecosystem are affected and the
marine life-forms’ existence gets unnecessarily threatened. Since exploration of oil from
oceanic resources has become a must and oil spills end up occurring accidently, as a
result, it becomes important to employ various oil spill cleanup methods.
There are different methodologies that can be adopted for the purpose of cleaning up oil
spills. Some of the few important and commonly used methods can be explained as
follows:
Using Oil Booms: Oil booms are a very popular method of controlling oil spills. There
are various kinds of oil booms that have been designed for various areas where the oil
spillage might occur, leading to a quite thorough oil spill cleanup.

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Using Sorbent: Sorbents mean sponges that are placed on the surface of the spillage
affected area. These sorbents suck and absorb the oil from the surface of the water
leading to an oil spill cleanup.
Burning In-situ: In simple terms, this means burning of the oil on the site where the
spillage has occurred. The burning has to be done quite promptly before the oil spill can
spread to a larger area. But the most important disadvantage of such an on-site burning
is that the exhaust that is released contains toxic particles that can cause damage to the
oceanic air in addition to the marine life-forms.
Using dispensers: This method involves using fertilizers to disperse the oil spillage in
the water. Even though the method sounds and looks unconventional, it is one of the
highly recommended oil spill cleanup methods. The fertilizers help to hasten the
growth of micro-organisms which help to diffuse the components of the oil spilt in the
water.
Using Hot water and huge force: In this method, huge force of the hot water is used to
push the oil spilt back into the water. Then with the help of the skimming tools and
equipments, the oil spill cleanup operation takes place.
Using Technological aid: By using cranes and tractors, the oil spillage area in
beaches and coastal areas can be cleaned.If it is not possible to carry out the oil spill
cleanup operation, there itself they can be taken to labs and other equipped areas
where the oil spill can be separated from the sand and other items generally found in
the beaches and coastal areas. (Panetta, 2003 ).

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Controlled burning is also another approach that has been used to clear out oil spillages
but it brings about air pollution issues.
Bio-remediation accelerator is another approach which entails using chemicals to
chemically and physically bond the hydrocarbon oil molecules. What this does is to
cause the oil molecules to aggregate and float towards the surface of the water column.
Undetected hydrocarbon molecules can be aggregated in this way. The accelerator
creates a bloom of indigenous hydrocarbon consuming bacteria that biodegrade the
hydrocarbon into water and carbon dioxide. Other times the oil can be separated from
the water and burnt, but this creates air pollution issues.
Dispersal agents have been used on oil spills as well, this prevents the oil suspension
from forming clumps or settling, thereby rapidly dispersing the oil over a large surface
area from which water soluble micelles are formed and are rapidly diluted. Several other
methods employed include dredging; when the degree of spill is not extensive,
skimming and solidifying. Solidifying entails using hydrophobic (having little affinity for
water) polymers to clean up spills. Solidifiers change the physical state of the oil
droplets into more solid/semi-solid substances and thus can be quite easily separated
from the water column and removed. The use of a centrifuge has been commonly
employed and worked by sucking up oil and water after which the oil is separated from
the water and the water is pumped back into the ocean. The separated oil is then
broken down / biodegraded in special treatment plants. The downside of this approach
is that some oil may be pumped back into the ocean along with the water.(Barry
Carolyn,2007).

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CONCLUTION
Oil spill is the release of oil into the environment, usually in the water, sometimes killing
area flora and fauna. Oil is the most common pollutant in the oceans. More than 3
million metric tons of oil contaminates the sea every year. The majority of oil pollution in
the oceans comes from land. Runoff and waste from cities, industry, and rivers carries
oil into the ocean.It occurs mainly as a result of human activity (exploration and
transport of oil) and is the release of oil /liquid petroleum hydrocarbon into the aquqtic
environment such as oceans and costal water and on land.

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REFERENCES
Bautista, H. and Rahman, K. M. M. (2016). Review On the Sundarbans Delta Oil Spill:
Effects On Wildlife and Habitats. International Research Journal, 1(43), Part 2, pp: 93-
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Carolyn,B (2007). "Slick Death: Oil-spill treatment kills coral". Science News.
Robertson,C and Krauss,C (2010). "Gulf Spill Is the Largest of Its Kind, Scientists
Say". The New York Times. New York Times. Retrieved 2 August 2010.
Panetta, L. E. (2003). America's living oceans: charting a course for sea change
[Electronic Version, CD] Pew Oceans Commission.
Raffi,K ( 2011). "The Gulf War". The New Yorker.
Broekema,W (April 2015). "Crisis-induced learning and issue politicization in the EU".
Public Administration. Public Administration.