Combustion of floating, water-in-oil emulsion layers subjected to external heat flux

In situations where an oil spill is contained by ice, in-situ burning of the spilled oil is extremely difficult. It is a well known fact that emulsions containing a large quantity of water do not burn. Also, scientists know that, under certain conditions, incombustible materials can be ignited and a sustained fire with flame spread can be obtained. One of the conditions in this study was to subject materials to a certain minimum heat flux. It opened up possibilities for the in-situ burning of oil spill and emulsion. A series of burn tests were performed with pools of water-in-oil emulsions of diesel and Milne Point (MPU) crude floating on water. The results of these experiments were presented by the authors, as well as results of tests using emulsions of Alaska North Slope (ANS) crude. The concentrations of water in diesel ranged from 20 to 80 per cent, 0 to 40 per cent for crude oil emulsions, and the external radiant heat flux ranged from 0 to 14 kW/m2. The tests determined the minimum heat flux required to obtain sustained burning of the emulsion, average burning rate, and residue thickness. Emulsion burning proved to be extremely sensitive to external radiation heat flux. 12 refs., 9 figs