Paul Panetta, Ph.D. ARA and VIMSProfessor Carl Friedrichs, VIMS

Assessment of Dispersant Effectiveness using Ultrasound to Measure Oil Droplet

Particle Size Distributions BOEMRE Project# M11PCOOO36

Project Kickoff MeetingOctober 4, 2011

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Agenda Introductions Project team and contract specs Contracting requirements Project overview

• Tasks• Schedule• Preliminary Data• Technical Approach• Team Equipment

Summary

U.S. Air Force chemical dispersing aircraft drops an oil dispersing chemical into the Gulf of Mexico as part of the Deepwater Horizon Response effort, May 5, 2010. U.S. Air Force Photo by Tech. Sgt. Adrian Cadiz; RestoreTheGulf.govDeepwater Horizon oil spill

Subsea blow out from the Deepwater Horizon leakDeepwater Horizon fire

Deepwater Horizon fire

Subsea blow out from the Deepwater Horizon leakArial application of dispersant

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Project Team and Contract SpecsTeam: Prime: Applied Research Associates, Inc.

• PI and Project Manager: Paul D. Panetta, Ph.D.• Greg Hewitt

Partner: Virginia Institute of Marine Science• PI: Professor Carl Friedrichs, Chair Physical Science Department• Grace Cartwright, Lab Manager and Ph.D. Candidate• Post Doc

Funding: Fixed Price

Duration: 12 months, September 26, 2011 to September 25, 2012

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Photo by: Matt Bier Photo by: Grace Cartwright

About ARA, Inc.About ARA, Inc.

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About ARA, Inc.About ARA, Inc.• Founded 1979, Albuquerque, New Mexico• 1,446 Employee Owners at locations in the U.S. and Canada• FY 09 Sales of $213.2 million

Master41%

Ph.D.19%

Bachelor40%

60% of ARA staff are Scientist and Engineers

Engineering and Science for Fun and Profit

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Virginia Institute of Marine Science (VIMS)

Facilities• Seawater Research Lab is the largest facility of its kind in the nation, providing 800-gallons per minute to an acre of research tanks and lab space• The William J. Hargis Library houses more than 88,000 volumes• Chesapeake Bay Hall and Andrews Hall provide state-of-the-art lab and teaching space in marine science• Fish collection features more than 125,000 specimens in 247 families from Chesapeake Bay and surrounding waters• Boat Basin provides safe harbor for VIMS fleet, including the 74’ R/V Pelican, a converted Navy landing craft.

• Mission: VIMS provides research, education, and advisory service in marine science to Virginia, the nation, and the world.

• Established in 1940 as the Virginia Fisheries Laboratory

• 500 faculty, staff, and students

• 100 graduate students in the School of Marine Science

• 40-acre main campus

• William & Mary’s School of Marine Science

Google Maps

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Objective and Deliverables

OBJECTIVE: Develop field monitoring

methods and technologies to measure the effectiveness of dispersants for subsea applications using ultrasonic based technologies to measure the oil particulate size.

DELIVERABLES: Kick Off Meeting Summary Quarterly Progress Reports Final Report

Lab measurements

Ohmsett Measurements in 2012

Commercial Sonar

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TasksTask 1. Laboratory Measurements Measure ultrasonic scattering response from oil droplets Dispersion Types (Corexit 9500, Corexit 9527 and Agma DR 379) Crude types, sediment, and temperature Precision ultrasonic instruments Commercial sonar and marine acoustic instruments

Task 2. Data Analysis Benchmark ultrasonic measurements of droplet size with LISST and visual

measurements/image analysis.

Task 3. Theory and Modeling Literature Review Compare the theory with the experiment.

Task 4. Algorithm Development Develop the droplet sizing algorithm from ultrasonic/acoustic data

Task 5. Testing at Ohmsett Study dispersion effectiveness and robustness of measurement methods using

precision ultrasonic, sonar, and marine acoustics instruments.

Task 6. Reporting and Project Management Quarterly and final reports

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Preliminary Data

-8000

-6000

-4000

-2000 0

2000

4000

6000

800010002000

30004000

50006000

-8000

-6000

-4000

-2000 0

2000

4000

6000

800010002000

30004000

50006000

3 cc oil+

dispersant

~1 cc oil+

dispersant

Depth

Depth

Ping #Amplitude for 1 ping

3 cc oil+

dispersant

~1 cc oil+

dispersant

Ping #

~1 cc oil + dispersant

~3 cc oil + dispersant

Lab set up

Paul D Panetta and Lindsey Kraatz (Dec 2010)

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Technical Approach

y = 3416.9x2 + 464.51xR2 = 0.9972

0

5

10

15

20

25

30

35

40

45

0 0.01 0.02 0.03 0.04 0.05 0.06 0.07Backscattering Decay Rate (1/us)

Conc

entra

tion

(wt%

)

Ultrasonic parameter(seconds)

0

5

10

15

20

25

30

35

40

45

0 0.01 0.02 0.03 0.04 0.05 0.06 0.07

5 wt%

10 wt%

20 wt%

25 wt%29 wt%

40 wt%

35 wt%

Ultrasonic parameter(seconds)

Calibration Curve Particle Size Distribution

Concentration75 m silica particles in water

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Equipment at ARA and VIMS Labs

Laboratory scanning system2 foot X 2 foot X 3 foot tank10 m step size in 3-D

Beckman Coulter Counter

Sediment core-logger with gamma probe and spectrophotometer

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Sonar, marine acoustic, and portable ultrasonic tools

Marine Sonic 900 kHz Side Scan Sonar

Imagenex 881 rotary sonar

Edgetech SB-216S Chirp

Acoustic Doppler Current Profiler

Acoustic Doppler Velocimeter and Laser In-Situ Scattering Transmissometer (LISST)Portable instrument

50 kHz to 7000 kHz

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Summary

Objective: Develop ultrasonic and acoustic measurements to measure oil particulate size to study dispersant effectives

Lab measurements Ohmsett measurements Building on sound science Excellent equipment available Excellent project team of physical scientists and marine scientists