The Russian Academy of Sciences (RAS) is actively studying Spain's experience in eliminating the consequences of oil spills in order to apply it to eliminate the consequences of the accident in the Black Sea. This was reported to RBC by RAS Vice President and Academician, Doctor of Chemical Sciences Stepan Kalmykov. According to him, the incident, which resulted in large-scale pollution of waters and the coast with fuel oil, has serious environmental consequences, but is not unique.
Kalmykov recalled the destruction of the tanker Prestige off the coast of Galicia in November 2002. At that time, about 63 thousand tons of fuel oil entered the Atlantic Ocean, polluting more than 800 kilometers of the coastline. This type of fuel (M-100 according to the Russian classification) is similar to that which caused pollution in the Black Sea. The Spanish side faced a large-scale environmental disaster, but was able to quickly cope with its consequences, using effective cleaning methods.
"The experience of our Spanish colleagues shows that the most effective method for eliminating such pollution is mechanical collection of fuel oil - both manually and using special equipment. At the same time, the possibilities of microbial destruction turned out to be severely limited due to the narrow range of suitable conditions and the duration of the process", Kalmykov noted.
The scientist added that heavy fractions of oil, which include fuel oil, are extremely difficult to decompose using biological methods, which makes mechanical approaches a priority.
At the moment, RAS specialists are analyzing the approaches used in Spain in order to adapt them to Russian conditions. According to Kalmykov, the Spanish methods made it possible to quickly and effectively eliminate a significant part of the consequences of the disaster, which makes them a valuable source for developing a strategy for eliminating the consequences of the accident in the Black Sea.
Meanwhile, the environmental consequences of the accident in the Black Sea have already attracted the attention of the public and experts. Fuel oil has spread not only in the water column, but also over a significant part of the coastline, which complicates the cleanup process.