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. 2020 Apr:153:110954.
doi: 10.1016/j.marpolbul.2020.110954. Epub 2020 Feb 7.

Toxicity of oil spill response agents and crude oils to five aquatic test species

Mace G Barron  1 , Adriana C Bejarano  2 , Robyn N Conmy  3 , Devi Sundaravadivelu  4 , Peter Meyer  5
Affiliations

Toxicity of oil spill response agents and crude oils to five aquatic test species

Mace G Barron et al. Mar Pollut Bull. 2020 Apr.

Abstract

The majority of aquatic toxicity data for petroleum products has been limited to a few intensively studied crude oils and Corexit chemical dispersants, and acute toxicity testing in two standard estuarine test species: mysids (Americamysis bahia) and inland silversides (Menidia beryllina). This study compared the toxicity of two chemical dispersants commonly stock piled for spill response (Corexit EC9500A®, Finasol®OSR 52), three less studied agents (Accell Clean®DWD dispersant; CytoSol® surface washing agent; Gelco200® solidifier), and three crude oils differing in hydrocarbon composition (Dorado, Endicott, Alaska North Slope). Consistent with listings on the U.S. National Contingency Plan Product Schedule, general rank order toxicity was greatest for dispersants and lowest for the solidifier. The results indicate that freshwater species can have similar sensitivity as the conventionally tested mysids and silversides, and that the sea urchin (Arbacia punctulata) appears to be a reasonable addition to increase taxa diversity in standardized oil agent testing.

Keywords: Dispersant; Oil; Spill response; Toxicity.

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Conflict of interest statement

Declaration of competing interest The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper.

Figures

Figure 1.
Figure 1.
Concentrations of PAHs and alkylated homologs unweathered crude oils and 100% WAF stock solutions prepared with ANSCO (50 g/L oil loading), Dorado (25 g/L) or Endicott (25 g/L oil.
Figure 2.
Figure 2.
Mean measured concentrations of TPH (total petroleum hydrocarbons), BTEX (benzene, toluene, ethylbenzene, xylenes), total PAHs (polycylic aromatic hydrocarbons), and alkanes in test solutions prepared with unweathered ANSCO (Alaska North Slope crude oil) at day 0, 2 and 4. BTEX value off scale (22.7 mg/L).
Figure 3.
Figure 3.
Mean measured concentrations of TPH (total petroleum hydrocarbons), BTEX (benzene, toluene, ethylbenzene, xylenes), total PAHs (polycylic aromatic hydrocarbons), and alkanes in test solutions prepared with unweathered Dorado crude oil at day 0, 2 and 4.
Figure 4.
Figure 4.
Mean measured concentrations of TPH (total petroleum hydrocarbons), BTEX (benzene, toluene, ethylbenzene, xylenes), total PAHs (polycylic aromatic hydrocarbons), and alkanes in test solutions prepared with unweathered Endicott crude oil at day 0, 2 and 4.
Figure 5.
Figure 5.
Acute and sublethal toxicity of Corexit and Finasol dispersants in standard freshwater and saltwater test species. Data compiled from the current study (black circle), static tests with standard species (Bejarano 2018; open circles), and the U.S. NCP Product Schedule (USEPA 2019; half circle).
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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