In-Situ Burning of Oil in Ice – Affected Waters – State of Knowledge

In-Situ burning (ISB) in ice and Arctic environments is regarded as a safe, environmentally acceptable and proven technique backed up by over five decades of research and operational experience comprising hundreds of laboratory and basin experiments, numerous successful Arctic field experiments, large-scale at-sea burns and the recent experience gained through the Deepwater Horizon incident response.

ISB is considered especially suited for use in the Arctic, where ice often provides a natural barrier to maintain the necessary oil thicknesses for ignition without the need for containment booms, and oil remains fresh and unemulsified for a longer period of time (compared to the same oil in open water). ISB has proved very effective for thick oil spills in high ice concentrations and has been used successfully to remove oil spills resulting from pipeline, storage tank and ship accidents in ice-covered waters in Alaska, Canada and Scandinavia.

Herders can provide an additional tool to support the use of ISB as an effective response strategy in pack ice and open water. Herding agents can thicken oil slicks in open water as well as in higher sea ice concentrations where containment by traditional booms becomes increasingly impractical.

Project Reports

Field Experiment to Validate Herder and In-Situ Burning Use in Open Water

Report On In-Situ Burning In Ice-affected Waters: A Technology Summary And Lessons From Key Experiments

Report On In-Situ Burning In Ice-affected Waters: Status Of Regulations In Arctic And Sub-arctic Countries

Research Investigations Into Herder Fate, Effects And Windows-of-opportunity

Report: Research Summary: Herding Surfactants To Contract And Thicken Oil Spills For In-situ Burning In Arctic Waters

Conceptual Design for a Long Range Aerial Ignition System for In-Situ Burning

Historical Review And State Of The Art For Oil Slick Ignition For ISB

Integrated Igniter – Herder Application System

Research Report Aerial Application of Herders

Report On In-Situ Burning In Ice-affected Waters: State Of Knowledge Report

New JIP research in this area focused on developing more effective ways of implementing burning at remote sites offshore.

The emphasis was on developing and validating aerial delivery systems, taking advantage of recent research into the use of herders to promote burning in open drift ice conditions and open water where slicks are otherwise often too thin to burn in their natural state. An important aim of this work was to substantially move this new response strategy along the path from research to operational status.

With these overall goals in mind, the JIP technical experts conceived a suite of projects divided into three broad categories:
  1. Reviewing the vast body of knowledge that exists on all aspects of ISB of oil slicks at sea and particularly in the presence of ice and in cold climate conditions. This involved three comprehensive state of knowledge reports:
    • The roles, functionality, benefits and limitations of ISB as a response option in the Arctic offshore environment, including planning and operational aspects and any potential impacts on human health and the environment;
    • A review of the findings of all relevant scientific studies and experiments as well as previous research efforts on the use of ISB in Arctic environments both offshore and onshore; and
    • A comparison of the regulatory requirements needed to obtain approval for use of ISB in Arctic nations.
  2. Developing and validating the concept of using herders in combination with burning as an operational rapid response tool based on aerial delivery of both herders and igniters. This involved carrying out a series of five projects carried out in Canada, Norway, Denmark and the U.S.A. to design, engineer and test new systems:
    • Herder Windows of Opportunity in lab and basin tests
    • Fate and Effects of Herders in lab tests
    • Large-scale Basin Tests with existing Aerial Herder Delivery and Ignition Systems
    • Development and Testing of a new Integrated Aerial Herder Delivery and Ignition System
    • Offshore Burn Trials in Norway with Herders in Open Water
  3. Conducting a conceptual engineering design study to evaluate the feasibility of developing a new aerial ignition system capable of reaching remote offshore sites at higher speeds with greater capacity and endurance than existing tools that need to be slung beneath a helicopter.
The JIP’s multi-faceted ISB research and development projects significantly advanced our understanding of how to apply herders and ignitors operationally from aerial platforms in both open water and ice environments.

Two projects involved large-scale field trials and testing in Alaska and Norway where regulators and responders from both countries had the opportunity to see the value of the new herder/burn response tool first hand.

Specific noteworthy achievements of the JIP’s ISB projects include:

  • Reviewing and disseminating a vast body of knowledge on all aspects of In-Situ burning of oil slicks at sea and particularly in the presence of ice and in cold climate conditions.
  • Confirming that the application of small volumes of herders poses no significant environmental risk. Laboratory tests with several Arctic species corroborated the view that in field applications, low volumes of herders that rapidly spread to form a monolayer on the surface should pose no significant risk to the environment in terms of their toxicity to or effects on selected organisms.
  • Developing and testing a prototype airborne system that integrates the ability to apply herder from a helicopter and then ignite the treated slick in a single flight.
  • Conducting an engineering study that produced a conceptual design of airborne ignition system capable of rapid installation in a suitable fixed wing airplane or helicopter. This development could enable future access to conduct ISB at remote offshore sites at higher speeds with much greater capacity and endurance than existing aerial ignition tools.