Analytical Techniques in the Oil and Gas Industry for Environmental Monitoring

Melissa N. Dunkle, William L. Winniford, Melissa N. Dunkle, William L. Winniford

• Publisher: Wiley
• Year: 2020
• ISBN:
  9781119523291
• Edition: 1
• Topic: Physical Sciences
• Subtopic: Analytic Chemistry

A thorough introduction to environmental monitoring in the oil and gas industry

Analytical Techniques in the Oil and Gas Industry for Environmental Monitoring examines the analytical side of the oil and gas industry as it also provides an overall introduction to the industry. You'll discover how oil and natural gas are sourced, refined, and processed.You can learn about what's produced from oil and natural gas, and why evaluating these sourced resources is important.

The book discusses the conventional analyses for oil and natural gas feeds, along with their limitations. It offers detailed descriptions of advanced analytical techniques that are commercially available, plus explanations of gas and oil industry equipment and instrumentation. You'll find technique descriptions supplemented with a list of references as well as with real-life application examples. With this book as a reference, you can prepare to apply specific analytical methods in your organization's lab environment. Analytical Techniques can also serve as your comprehensive resource on key techniques in the characterization of oil and gas samples, within both refinery and environmental contexts.

• Understand of the scope of oil and gas industry techniques available
• Consider the benefits and limitations of each available process
• Prepare for applying analytical techniques in your lab
• See real examples and a list of references for each technique
• Read descriptions of off-line analytics, as well as on-line and process applications

As a chemist, engineer, instructor, or student, this book will also expand your awareness of the role these techniques have in environmental monitoring and environmental impact assessments.

Part I
Scope

1
Introduction

Melissa N. Dunkle¹ and William L. Winniford²

¹Analytical Science, Dow Benelux, BV, Herbert H. Dowweg 5, Building 446, Hoek, The Netherlands

²Analytical Science, The Dow Chemical Company, 230 Abner Jackson Parkway, Lake Jackson, TX, USA

1.1 Introduction

The oil and gas industry, also known as the petroleum industry, is a global endeavor that encompasses exploration, extraction, refining, transportation, and marketing of petroleum products. The scope of this book is to provide readers with background knowledge on the petroleum industry, for example on how petroleum is sourced and refined, which will then be related to the multitude of analytical techniques required to characterize and quantify the various aspects of petroleum and petroleum‐related products, combine with links to environmental impact.

This book has been designed in such a way as to provide a thorough background for students or novices in the industry, but also to provide enough detailed applications and analytical advancements to be useful for experts on the topic.

This book has been divided into six parts to simplify the complexity of the discussed topics for the readers:

• Part 1: Scope
• Part 2: Introduction to the Petroleum Industry
• Part 3: Analytical Techniques Utilized in the Petroleum Industry
• Part 4: Special Cases and Examples Related to the Petroleum Industry
• Part 5: Environmental Analysis
• Part 6: Future Trends in the Petroleum Industry

1.1.1 Petroleum Cycle

Whether we realize it or not, petroleum and petroleum‐related products are part of our everyday lives. While petroleum is sourced as a raw material, it is further manufactured into useable materials, such as fuel for automobiles (e.g. gasoline and diesel) or into petrochemicals and chemicals that are further processed into everyday items (e.g. cosmetics, plastics, foams, construction and building materials, etc.). After use, these items are then (ideally) recycled back into the lifecycle to be manufactured into new products; Figure 1.1 shows a general schematic for the petroleum lifecycle.

Figure 1.1 Life cycle of petroleum.

At any point in the lifecycle, care must be taken to avoid environmental contamination, from the sourcing of petroleum, through to ensuring that we all do our part to recycle and avoid contributing to landfill waste. The authors realize that not all materials can be recycled; however, we do want to stress environmental awareness to the reader. Two examples of environmental contamination originating from different phases of the petroleum lifecycle will be discussed before providing an overview of the content of this book.

1.1.2 Well‐Known Cases of Environmental Contamination

1.1.2.1 Oil‐Drilling Rig Deepwater Horizon

Deepwater Horizon is one of the most well‐known oil spills originating from the United States. On 20 April 2010, the Deepwater Horizon oil drilling rig exploded and sank in the Macondo Prospect in the Gulf of Mexico while sourcing crude oil (EPA 2017). In total, 11 workers lost their lives, and more than 4 million barrels of oil spilled into the Gulf of Mexico over a period of 87 days before the Macondo well was able to be capped. The Gulf Coast ecosystem was severely affected and altered by this event, and as a result, the Resources and Ecosystems Sustainability, Tourist Opportunities, and Revived Economies of the Gulf Coast States Act (RESTORE Act) was signed into law (RESTORE 2015). The RESTORE Act was aimed at restoring the long‐term health of the natural ecosystem and economy of the Gulf Coast Region. Additionally, the oil and gas industry identified several learnings from this disaster; firstly, the blowout preventer, which failed in the Deepwater Horizon operation, was in need of improvement, and secondly, there is a need for better deepwater sub‐sea intervention capabilities (Griffin 2010).

Even as the spill was still active, cleanup activities were underway. Oil dispersants were used in an attempt to keep the surface oil from reaching the coastline by breaking down the hydrocarbons, and this was the first example where oil dispersants were used underwater. While oil dispersants should not be any more toxic than the oil they are intended to disperse, it was noted in a study by Rico‐Martinez that for selected aquatic species (Brachionus manjavacas), the combination of the oil dispersants used in the Deepwater Horizon spill and the Macondo oil showed a synergetic effect for increased toxicity (Rico‐Martínez et al. 2013). Even two years after the event, the full impact on the environment, including marine and human life was not fully known. In 2012, a study of the sediment and pore‐water from coastal marshes was performed using both gas chromatography coupled to mass spectrometry (GC‐MS) and isotope ratio mass spectrometry (IRMS), which showed that oil from the Deepwater Horizon spill was still present (Natter et al. 2012). In 2013, GC‐MS was used to analyze tar balls washing up on the Alabama coastline; through chemical fingerprinting, it was determined that these tar balls originated from the Deepwater Horizon spill (Mulabagal et al. 2013). It should be noted that National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) and the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) took great measures to ensure that no contaminated seafood reached consumers (Astaiza 2012). As a result of the Deepwater Horizon spill, the Gulf of Mexico Research Initiative coordinated scientific research to understand the environmental impact and consequences of oil spills better. Recently, an offering of books have been published on the environmental impact of the Deepwater Horizon oil spill and the scientific advancements and learnings attained (Murawski et al. 2020a,b).

As a result of the Deepwater Horizon spill, several improvements have been implemented for offshore oil drilling: sturdier wells, improved blowout preventers, remotely operated vehicles (ROVs) on every oil rig, improved preparedness for...