Oil spill waste treatment in the Kymenlaakso region after a ship accident

Abstract

The significance of the Gulf of Finland, which is part of the Baltic Sea, as an oil transportroute has increased rapidly in recent years. Approximately 140 million tons of oil wastransported through the Gulf of Finland in the year 2006. The amount of transport has doubledin a few years. At the same time, the accident risk has increased. The narrowness and thefragmented coastline make the Gulf of Finland extremely vulnerable in an oil spill situation.There is as yet no comprehensive plan in Finland for how to treat oil spill waste after a largescale accident. The aim of this study was to find out treatment methods and capacities in theKymenlaakso region for the oily waste collected from the coastline after a large oil accident inthe Gulf of Finland.This study presents the principles of the treatment methods of oil spill waste and thelimitations of the methods in handling the waste. The article also includes a background studyof the treatment of wastes collected from the coastline from previous major oil accidents.The possibilities of different companies to treat oily waste in the Kymenlaakso region werestudied. Detailed information was collected by interviewing the companies' workers. 19 000 tof crushable oily equipment and organic matter mixed with normal solid fuels can be burnedannually in the fluidized bed furnaces of regional power plants. I 200 t of homogenized oilyorganic matter can be burned annually in the rotary kiln of a factory which produces expandedclay (LECA). The region's burning capacity will increase when the municipal solid wasteincineration plant that was under construction during the study is ready and the oil spill wastecan be burned on its grate. Oily soil can be treated with composting, washing, soil vapourextraction and stabilization with bitumen. Mobile treatment plants suitable for oily waste,such as thennal desorption plants, can also be transported to the region.