Workers in safety gear inspecting spill.

Sustainable Hydrocarbon Management

Components of TPH, or Total Petroleum Hydrocarbons, at first glance appear common and ordinary; however, they are the essential elements of life.

One cannot address hydrocarbons in terms of stand-alone chemical elements, but as aggregates referred to as compounds. They define each other’s functions and complement each other’s applications. They are the sum total of what we refer to as the energy that powers up the developed and developing world.

The Proponent Elements of Hydrocarbons Are

Carbon - 84% (Carbon Black, Carbon Disulfide)
Hydrogen - 14% (Hydrogen Sulfide, Poly-Aromatic Hydrocarbons PAHs)
Sulfur - 1 to 3% (Hydrogen Sulfide, Sulfides, Disulfides, Elemental Sulfur)
Nitrogen - less than 1% (basic compounds with amine groups)
Oxygen - less than 1% (found in organic compounds such as Carbon Dioxide, Phenols, Ketones, Carboxylic Acids)
Metals - less than 1% (Nickel, Iron, Vanadium, Copper, Arsenic)
Salts - less than 1% (Sodium Chloride, Magnesium Chloride, Calcium Chloride)

River with reddish water and surrounding trees.

Offshore oil platform with surrounding oil spill.

What’s Wrong With Hydrocarbons?

Not everything is wrong with hydrocarbons. However, their negative effects are felt when they are densely concentrated in a single area of contamination. This is when hydrocarbons tip the pH balance scale. Where the potential of hydrogen swings the homeostatic pendulum to favor either a healthy existence or a toxic environment. The pH level is one of the most important balancing factors of the human body and the ecosystem. It is the measure of acidity and alkalinity on a scale of zero (0) to fourteen (14), with zero being the most acidic and fourteen being the most alkaline. Seven (7) is the demarcation point where the scale could go either way—acidic or alkaline.

An acidic pH is detrimental to most life forms. Although certain matters may thrive in a highly acidic setting, an alkaline pH is favorable to an existence full of vim and vigor. This shows an adequate amount of oxygen in the blood. Any slight decrease in pH will result in lower oxygen in the blood and cellular levels. Any reduction in pH, no matter how small, is the beginning of a disease state that affects quality of life. It is the essence of growing old gracefully for mankind, and survivability for marine life, wildlife and plant life. Under normal circumstances, fluids that influence life’s anatomic and physiologic functions will fluctuate in the range of 7.35 and 7.45. This range is strictly maintained in support of blood/system pH that is slightly alkaline in the state of homeostasis. Homeostasis is the tendency of a physiologic system to maintain an internal acid/alkaline balance. It is the coordinated response of the physiologic parts to substances, situations, or stimulus that threaten to disturb normal conditions and/or functions.

When hydrocarbons are introduced in overwhelming quantities, over an extended period of time, the pH balance scale tips from normal to an acidic and toxic state. This applies to the entire ecosystem, i.e. the environment, atmosphere, plant life, wildlife, marine life and human life. The level of toxicity may vary from case to case, depending upon the amount and length of exposure. In humans, organ specific damage depends upon the intake route, i.e. inhaled, ingested, or absorbed. Organs that are directly affected by exposure to carcinogenic Total Petroleum Hydrocarbons are the brain, heart, lungs, kidneys, eyes, and skin. Individual health, genetic make-up, previous extended exposure to other chemicals, personal habits such as smoking, drinking, substance abuse, and other pollutants can hasten the influence of toxicity.

The Deep Horizon Oil Spill produced mutated and underdeveloped marine animals. Oil spills can cause environmental havoc that takes months and years to clean up and rehabilitate.

Airborne fossil fuel emissions are trapped in the atmosphere and create a green house effect. Acid rain is caused by a chemical reaction that begins when compounds like sulfur dioxide and nitrogen oxides are released into the air. These substances mix and react with water, oxygen, and other chemicals to form more acidic pollutants; in turn this precipitates back to land and surface waterways in the form of rain, sleet, snow, fog and dust clouds which could potentially seep into the aquifer (groundwater supply).

Fusion of these compounds under certain conditions heightens volatility, making them highly combustible on land, sea, or air.

Obviously, the world’s need for fossil fuel is a fact. It facilitates advancements to life and affords the developed world luxuries it is accustomed to.

Hydrocarbons can either fuel, empower or undermine the existence of life. Raising the safety standards in hydrocarbon production, delivery and utilization requires new technologies to support the initiative.

In response to the need for strategic technologies to support environmental protection and safety, the SmartBOPTM lays out a solid foundation and establishes a standard platform to achieve these goals. Oil wells connected to the cloud monitored, supervised, supported, and controlled.