EFFECTS OF CHEMICAL DISPERSANT ON OIL SEDIMENTATION DUE TO OIL-SPM FLOCCULATION: EXPERIMENTS WITH THE NIST STANDARD REFERENCE MATERIAL 1941B

As it is well established that application of chemical dispersant to oil slicks enhances the concentration of oil droplets and re-duces their size, chemical dispersants are expected to enhance oil sedimentation if applied in coastal waters rich in suspended paniculate matter (SPM) and if flocculation between chemically dispersed oil and SPM, which leads to formation of oil-SPM ag-gregates (OSAs), occurs readily. New laboratory experiments were conducted to establish a quantitative understanding of the process and to verify this hypothesis. This paper presents findings from experiments conducted using Standard Reference Material 1941b prepared by the National Institute of Standards and Technology