Abstract

Marine oil spills frequently occur and cause adverse impacts on the coastal ecosystem and communities. The spilled oil may reach the shorelines and can persist for a long time. The application of surface washing agents is an important shoreline cleanup technique that can help remove stranded oil from substrate surfaces with the advantages of high removal efficiency, low toxicity, and strong economic viability. Herein, in this thesis, the comprehensive literature review was firstly conducted to study the causes and effects of oil spills, transport and fate of the spilled oil, various shoreline cleanup methods, and the use of surface washing agents for shoreline cleanup. Second, the effects of environmental factors on the performance of a commercial surface washing agent were well investigated. Meanwhile, the assessment for this agent was also carried out from aspects of toxicity, detergency, dispersion properties, and field tests. It has the practical implication for the use of surface washing agents in shoreline cleanup. Third, a green and responsive washing fluid was developed by modifying the nanoclay with a nonionic surfactant to washed out the stranded oil on beach sand. The thermodynamic miscibility modeling results had good agreement with the batch test results. The modified nanoclay has the application potential for shoreline cleanup, which can be a desirable alternative to the existing commercial surface washing agents. Fourth, a framework for the evaluation and selection of surface washing agents was also developed to better understand and apply this technique, and it is helpful for future shoreline-cleanup decision making. In addition, a new initiative was proposed with the use of alginate hydrogel coating for emergent shoreline oiling prevention. It provides a unique direction for the future development of green oil spill control strategy.