Burning of Oil Spills.

Published

October 19, 1989

Author(s)

William D. Walton, D D. Evans

Abstract

This study is directed at understanding the oil spill combustion process and the smoke generated from the burning. Measurements of 1.2 m diameter Murban crude oil pool fires show an initial steady energy release rate of 840 kW/m2 which increases to 1860 kW/m2 during the vigorous burning associated with boiling of the water sublayer. During the burning of the crude oil pools approximately 10 percent of the crude oil was converted to smoke with a high elemental carbon content in excess of 90 percent. Measurements of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon (PAH) components found in the original oil, showed that soot produced in the burning process carried a different distribution of PAH compounds, but that the total concentration of these compounds was equal to that found in the original crude oil.

Proceedings Title

U.S./Japan Government Cooperative Program on Natural Resources (UJNR). Fire Research and Safety. 11th Joint Panel Meeting..

Conference Dates

October 19-24, 1989

Conference Location

Berkeley, CA

Pub Type

Conferences

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Keywords

oil spills, combustion, smoke generation, crude oil, tests, pool fires, energy transfer

Citation

Walton, W. and Evans, D. (1989), Burning of Oil Spills., U.S./Japan Government Cooperative Program on Natural Resources (UJNR). Fire Research and Safety. 11th Joint Panel Meeting.., Berkeley, CA, [online], https://tsapps.nist.gov/publication/get_pdf.cfm?pub_id=916830 (Accessed October 13, 2025)