Oil Spill Environmental Forensics Case Studies

Oil Spill Environmental Forensics Case Studies includes 34 chapters that serve to present various aspects of environmental forensics in relation to “real-world” oil spill case studies from around the globe. Authors representing academic, government, and private researcher groups from 14 countries bring a diverse and global perspective to this volume.

Oil Spill Environmental Forensics Case Studies addresses releases of natural gas/methane, automotive gasoline and other petroleum fuels, lubricants, vegetable oils, paraffin waxes, bitumen, manufactured gas plant residues, urban runoff, and, of course, crude oil, the latter ranging from light Bakken shale oil to heavy Canadian oil sands oil. New challenges surrounding forensic investigations of stray gas in the shallow subsurface, volatiles in air, dissolved chemicals in water (including passive samplers), and biological tissues associated with oil spills are included, as are the effects and long-term oil weathering, long-term monitoring in urbanized and non-urbanized environments, fate and transport, forensic historical research, new analytical and chemical data processing and interpretation methods.

• Presents cases in each chapter on the application of specific oil spill environmental forensic techniques
• Features chapters written by international experts from both academia and industry
• Includes relevant concepts and theories elucidated for each theme

Dr. Stout has more than 20 years of petroleum and coal industry experience. He specializes in chemical compositions of fuel-derived sources of contamination in terrestrial and marine environments, which includes crude oil, coal, gasoline and other substances. His research has been used for decision making by the United States Departments of Justice and Defense, and by the forest products, utility, railroad, wood treatment, maritime shipping, port operations, and oil and gas industries. Dr. Stout has authored or co-authored nearly 120 scientific papers and edited a textbook on the environmental forensics aspects of maritime oil spills.

Dr. Zhendi Wang is a senior research scientist and Head of Oil Spill Research of Environment Canada, working in the oil and toxic chemical spill research field. His specialties and research interests include: development of oil spill fingerprinting and tracing technology, environmental forensics of oil spill; oil properties, fate and behavior of oil and other hazardous organics in the environment; oil burn emission and products study; oil bioremediation; identification and characterization of oil hydrocarbons; and, spill treatment studies; applications of modern analytical techniques (such as GC, GC/MS, HPLC, LC/MS, SFE and SFC, and IC) to oil spill studies and other environmental science and technology.

Dr. Wang has continually and extensively led and been involved in various scientific projects, technology transfer, and national and international cooperative researches with the total funding over 3 million dollars. He has authored over 270 academic publications including 72 peer-reviewed articles and 4 invited reviews in the most respected journals in the environmental science and chemistry, and 8 books and book chapters. The productivity, excellence and achievements of Dr. Wang have established him as a national and international “leading authority on the topic”. He has won a number of national and international scientific honours and awards. Wang is also a member of America Chemical Society (ACS), the Canadian Society for Chemistry (CSC), and the International Society of Environmental Forensics.