Environmental Impacts of Oil Spills and Response Technologies

Oil spill accidents are among the most environmentally damaging disasters in the world because of their serious consequences which can be identified in several areas such as the marine biological and physical environment, human health and society, economy, and politics. The environmental impacts of the oil spill in the marine environment can be directed or indirected as well as acute effects ranging from a few days to several years and chronic long-term effects. For this reason, several intervention methods are considered during oil spills in order to limit the deleterious damages of the incident and thus to protect the environment. These methods can be physical/mechanical, chemical, or biological. However, the choice of a response method is a considerable challenge both in environmental and economic viewpoints. Many variables can influence the environmental effects of a spill and the choice of response practices, such as location, weather conditions, spill rate, and type of oil. Within this context, the main purpose of this work is to highlight oil spills through a detailed review of the past oil spill accidents, analysing physical and chemical processes in water due to the released materials and the main environmental impacts as well as the countermeasures and clean up techniques.