CytoSol - Cleaning oiled shorelines with a vegetable oil biosolvent

A cleanup process has been developed to aid in the removal of crude or fuel oil from shorelines using CytoSol "biosolvent" formulation based on vegeta ble oil methyl esters in combination with bioremediation enhancers. The Cyt oSol biosolvent dissolves and floats the oil, the oil/biosolvent mixture is rinsed off with ambient temperature water for collection as a consolidated layer with skimmers. The collected oil mixture can be recycled as a burner fuel. Nutrient enhancers in the formulation then stimulate the natural bio degradation of the remaining residual hydrocarbons. This new approach minim izes physical and chemical impacts to marine organisms, cleans oiled surfac es effectively, and allows the oiled ecosystem to recover with less mortali ty than conventional methods involving hot water, detergents or other chemi cal cleaners. CytoSol is ideally suited for port facilities and waterfronts dealing with occasional small oil spills and has undergone extensive labor atory testing for the US EPA. In 1997, the CytoSol biosolvent was licensed in the state of California as a shoreline cleaner and set up for commercial distribution. CytoSol biosolvent can extract heavy petroleum (crude, fuel oils) off shore line habitats, mussel-encrusted breakwaters or pilings, and estuary vegetat ion. The viscosity of the product tends to limit the penetration of the Cyt oSol/oil mixture into sand and gravel beaches, allowing more of the dissolv ed oil to be removed from the shoreline by washing. The product has a low s pecific gravity (0.87), tends to consolidate oil, and is practically immisc ible with water, so it facilitates the recovery of spilled oil with convent ional skimming and absorbent boom technologies. Since it is non-volatile an d non-flammable, there is little danger of explosion or fire when spraying it inside confined spaces. (C) 2001 Published by Elsevier Science Ltd.