https://www.desmogblog.com/2018/02/01/oil-industry-diluted-bitumen-floating-tar-sands-oil
[links in on-line article]
The Oil Industry and That Amazing Floating Tar Sands Oil
By Justin Mikulka • Thursday, February 1, 2018 - 14:57
More than seven years have passed since an Enbridge oil pipeline
ruptured and spilled more than a million gallons of tar sands oil, also
known as diluted bitumen, near a tributary leading to Michigan's
Kalamazoo River. Once in the water, the oil — which spill responders
initially did not know was tar sands oil — ended up sinking to the
sediment on the river bottom and causing major environmental impacts for
wildlife and plants.
Yet even today, the oil industry still claims that tar sands oil floats.
For example, tar sands oil pipeline operator Kinder Morgan has an FAQ
page for its Trans Mountain pipeline, and according to that page, one of
the company's top questions of 2017 was the following: “Does diluted
bitumen sink or float?”
Diluted bitumen (also known as dilbit) is the industry term for tar
sands oil. Dilbit is a mixture of two distinct materials. One is the
heavy tar-like bitumen that is mined from tar sands deposits. The other
is a highly flammable natural gas condensate that is mixed with the
bitumen to allow a product that starts out with the consistency of
peanut butter, once diluted, to flow through a pipeline or be pumped
into a rail tanker car.
The answer to this question of whether dilbit sinks or floats isn’t a
simple yes or no. But the response on the Trans Mountain FAQ page ends
up being quite misleading:
“Products carried in the Trans Mountain system must meet criteria
for density (max 0.94) and viscosity (350 cst). That maximum density of
0.94 means that diluted bitumen is less dense than fresh water (density
1.00) and seawater (density 1.03). In fact, diluted bitumen (or dilbit)
has the same spill-recovery characteristics as conventional heavy oil.”
Notice how Kinder Morgan didn’t answer the question directly but instead
discussed the various densities of water and their products, implying
that because diluted bitumen in the pipeline has a density lower than
water, it must float.
On a separate page on the Trans Mountain site, the same information
appears under the heading: “Myth: Diluted bitumen sinks.”
However, a 2015 National Academy of Sciences conference on the Effects
of Diluted Bitumen on the Environment made quite clear one key lesson of
the Kalamazoo incident: Yes, diluted bitumen floats immediately after
released, but as soon as it is exposed to the elements, the mixture
begins changing — the light and volatile condensate diluting the bitumen
evaporates — and with time the remaining oil product begins sinking.
Greg Powell of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency was involved in
the Kalamazoo cleanup and he explained this complex reality to the
conference attendees. “Once the oil started to sink, it made things a
lot more difficult on our recovery,” he said.
The oil industry has been sticking to its claim that diluted bitumen
floats, but real-world experience seems to indicate that while dilbit
floats for a short time, it soon interacts with the weather, water, and
sediments, and ultimately sinks.
In the Kalamazoo case, the oil began sinking within two weeks. And the
cleanup took five years and cost over a billion dollars.
National Academy of Sciences Contradicts Trans Mountain’s Claims — With
Science
The 2015 National Academy of Sciences conference on dilbit's
environmental effects was just one part of a larger research effort by
the academy, which also resulted in a 2016 report on the topic. This
report makes clear that diluted bitumen spills in water are “unique” and
difficult to clean-up precisely because the bitumen sinks:
“For any crude oil spill, lighter, volatile compounds begin to
evaporate promptly; in the case of diluted bitumen, a dense, viscous
material with a strong tendency to adhere to surfaces begins to form as
a residue. For this reason, spills of diluted bitumen pose particular
challenges when they reach water bodies. In some cases, the residues can
submerge or sink to the bottom of the water body.”
Which is exactly what happened in the Kalamazoo River spill. Trans
Mountain is correct that diluted bitumen is less dense than water, but
that fact didn’t help the Kalamazoo River. Once exposed to the
environment, dilbit breaks down into its components and the heavy
bitumen portion sinks. And the National Academy found that this could
occur even when the bitumen was still less dense than water:
“Importantly, the density of the residual oil does not necessarily
need to reach or exceed the density of the surrounding water for this to
occur. The crude oil may combine with particles present in the water
column to submerge, and then remain in suspension or sink.”
This report comes to the same conclusions about dilbit sinking as the
people working to contain and clean-up the Kalamazoo River spill.
However, the report also directly contradicts Trans Mountain’s other
claim that “diluted bitumen (or dilbit) has the same spill-recovery
characteristics as conventional heavy oil.” A dilbit fact sheet from the
Canadian Energy Pipeline Association makes a similar case: “In the event
that diluted bitumen were to be spilled, the procedures for cleaning up
the spill would be similar to cleaning up a conventional crude spill.”
The National Academy of Sciences reaches a far different conclusion: “In
comparison to other commonly transported crude oils, many of the
chemical and physical properties of diluted bitumen, especially those
relevant to environmental impacts, are found to differ substantially
from those of the other crude oils,” and that “spills of diluted bitumen
should elicit unique, immediate actions.”
In a move that spells trouble for Kinder Morgan's Trans Mountain
pipeline, the government of British Columbia this week took steps to
limit the growth of the tar sands oil industry until scientists and
officials reach a better understanding of the impacts of dilbit spills.
“We are proposing we restrict the transport of diluted bitumen until we
hear back from the B.C. scientific community about the impacts of a
spill and what we would need to mitigate that,” B.C. Environment
Minister George Heyman told DeSmog Canada.
Planning Is Everything
The National Academy opens its report on diluted bitumen with a quote
from President Dwight D. Eisenhower:
“I tell this story to illustrate the truth of the statement I heard
long ago in the Army: Plans are worthless, but planning is everything.
There is a very great distinction because when you are planning for an
emergency you must start with this one thing: the very definition of
‘emergency’ is that it is unexpected, therefore it is not going to
happen the way you are planning.”
The recent sinking of the oil tanker Sanchi in the East China Sea is yet
another example of how the oil industry moves various oil products
across land, oceans, and rivers without having clear plans on how to
deal with major spills. That spill involved a tanker full of condensate
(the lighter component of diluted bitumen) and is the largest condensate
spill ever.
Despite the oil and maritime industries' experience transporting
condensate for decades, they appear baffled about how to deal with this
disaster in the East China Sea. Spill expert Rick Steiner told Nature
News: “This is charting new ground, unfortunately. This is probably one
of the most unique spills ever.”
The oil industry has a long history of pushing forward recklessly in the
pursuit of profit and then claiming ignorance when things go wrong,
resulting in “unique” disasters.
After the deadly Bakken oil train disaster at Lac-Mégantic, Quebec, the
industry assured the public that Bakken oil was safe and no different
than other oils. That was wrong.
When the Sanchi was initially on fire The Washington Post reported that
the Chinese government said that much of the oil “would probably
evaporate in hours.” That was wrong.
And the oil industry continues to claim that diluted bitumen floats in
water and is no different to clean up than other oils — despite the
scientific and real world evidence showing this isn’t true.