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. 2022 May;41(5):1311-1318.
doi: 10.1002/etc.5310. Epub 2022 Mar 21.

Comparative Toxicity of Oil Spill Herding Agents to Aquatic Species

Matthew M Alloy  1   2 , Devi Sundaravadivelu  3 , Elizabeth Moso  4 , Peter Meyer  5 , Mace G Barron  4
Affiliations

Comparative Toxicity of Oil Spill Herding Agents to Aquatic Species

Matthew M Alloy et al. Environ Toxicol Chem. 2022 May.

Abstract

Chemical herding agents are surfactant mixtures used to coalesce spilled oil and increase slick thickness to facilitate mechanical recovery or in situ burning. Only two herders are currently listed on the United States' National Oil and Hazardous Substances Pollution Contingency Plan or National Contingency Plan product schedule for potential use in spill response: the surface collecting agents Siltech OP-40™ and ThickSlick 6535™. Toxicity data for spill response agents are frequently available only for two estuarine species, mysid shrimp (Americamysis bahia) and inland silversides (Menidia beryllina), and are particularly limited for herding agents. Toxicity can vary over several orders of magnitude across product type and species, even within specific categories of spill response agents. Seven aquatic species were tested with both Siltech OP-40™ and ThickSlick 6535™ to evaluate acute herder toxicity and relative species sensitivity. The toxicity assessment included: acute tests with A. bahia and M. beryllina, the freshwater crustacean Ceriodaphina dubia, and the freshwater fish Pimephales promelas; development of the echinoderm Arbacia unctulate; and growth of a freshwater alga Raphidocelis subcapitata and marine alga Dunaliella tertiolecta. Siltech acute toxicity values ranged from 1.1 to 32.8 ppm. ThickSlick acute toxicity values ranged from 2.2 to 126.4 ppm. The results of present study show greater toxicity of Siltech compared to ThickSlick with estimated acute hazard concentrations intended to provide 95% species protection of 1.1 and 3.6 ppm, respectively, on empirical data and 0.64 and 3.3 ppm, respectively, with the addition of interspecies correlation data. The present study provides a greater understanding of species sensitivity of these two oil spill response agents. Environ Toxicol Chem 2022;41:1311-1318. © 2022 SETAC. This article has been contributed to by U.S. Government employees and their work is in the public domain in the USA.

Keywords: Herder; Oil spill; Species sensitivity distribution; Surface collecting agent; Toxicity.

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Conflict of interest statement

Disclaimer—The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in the present study. This manuscript has been subjected to US Environmental Protection Agency review and approved for publication. Approval does not signify that the contents reflect the views of the agency, nor does mention of trade names or commercial products constitute endorsement or recommendation for use.

Figures

FIGURE 1:
FIGURE 1:
Siltech OP-40 species sensitivity distribution generated with only measured acute toxicity data. Dashed line indicates the fifth percentile hazard concentration. Shaded area is the 95% confidence region. NCP = National Contingency Plan.
FIGURE 2:
FIGURE 2:
Siltech OP-40 species sensitivity distribution generated with measured acute toxicity data and interspecies correlation estimation model predictions. Dashed line indicates the fifth percentile hazard concentration, and the shaded area is the 95% confidence region. NCP = National Contingency Plan; ICE = interspecies correlation estimation.
FIGURE 3:
FIGURE 3:
ThickSlick 6535 species sensitivity distribution generated with only measured acute toxicity data. Dashed line indicates the fifth percentile hazard concentration, and the shaded area is the 95% confidence region. NCP = National Contingency Plan.
FIGURE 4:
FIGURE 4:
ThickSlick 6535 species sensitivity distribution generated with measured acute toxicity data and interspecies correlation estimation model predictions. Dashed line indicates the fifth percentile hazard concentration, and the shaded area is the 95% confidence region. NCP = National Contingency Plan; ICE = interspecies correlation estimation.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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