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Development and Publication of "A Spill Responder's Guide to the Physical and Chemical Analysis of Petroleum"

DescriptionIn January 2020, NOAA Emergency Response Division (ERD) hosted a 3-day workshop on the physical and chemical analysis of petroleum, gathering an international group of attendees, including participants from government, academia, and industry with backgrounds in spill modeling, analytical chemistry, and emergency oil spill response. One major outcome of the workshop was the establishment of four working groups to address knowledge gaps that were identified during the workshop. One group was tasked to write a report describing and comparing laboratory methods that are used to measure oil properties that are most relevant for emergency spill response. This group, largely consisting of analytical chemists who attended the workshop, met monthly from June 2020 to March 2021, through virtual meetings that were facilitated by the Coastal Response Research Center (CRRC) and led by a NOAA ERD chemist. Over the course of this time period, the group successfully wrote the first draft of the report. They first identified a set of 27 physical and chemical properties that are particularly relevant to spill response. Then they wrote profiles of the primary standard laboratory methods used to measure each property. A narrative overview was also written for each property, describing how it is used to make decisions in emergency response and indicating the pros and cons of each relevant analytical method in different situations. Additionally, the group wrote descriptions of various non-standardized methods currently in use by different laboratories to study oil weathering processes and environmental behavior. For the first time ever, all these methods have been compiled into a single document that can serve as a resource both to scientists wishing to conduct an analysis of petroleum and to spill responders who need to use analytical data to make decisions in the field. The final report is being published as a NOAA Technical Memorandum.

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