Utilization of Oil Properties to Develop a Spreading Rate Regression Model for Nigerian Crude Oil

Abstract

The target of this study is to develop a spreading rate regression model capable of predicting rate of spread of Nigerian crude oil spills on water. The major factors responsible for spreading rate of crude oil on water were considered, namely surface tension, viscosity, and specific gravity/American Petroleum Institute degree (0 API), all at specified temperature values. The surface tension, viscosity and density parameters were interactively measured under controlled factorial analysis. The spreading rate of each crude oil was determined by artificially spilling them on laboratory calm/stagnant water in a rectangular tank and their averages were also computed. These averages were used to develop a regression model equation for spreading rate. The model developed indicated that an average spreading rate was 3.3528 cm/s at 37.5˚C and the predictive regression model is evaluated with the interactions of specific gravity, viscosity and surface tension. It is convenient to state that the model will predict the spread rate of crude oils which possess imputed physicochemical properties having pour point averaged 15.5˚C on calm seawater.