[jjoll]

Hi,

I am currently working on a  project on “safety for transportation of crude oil”, I dont have technical background in chemical and material science that is why I need some expert opinions.

1- is there and process, chemical or material that can be added to a oil (specially crude oil), or gasoline or petrol so that it neutralizes the flammability of that liquid or significantly lower it? It doesn't matter if it destroys that oil and makes it unusable.

2- Any material that THICKENS the oil (make it more viscous and gel like), it would be great if it thickens the oil (turn it to gel) AND reduces flammability at the same time.
I have heard you can use water and detergent to gel the oil and make it less flammable. Is that true?

3- I want the process to occur as fast as possible.

Somebody told me:
“A detergent and water can be added to oils and fuels. That reduces flammability and thickens or gels the oil. (Mixing paraffin [kerosene] and liquid dish detergent creates a thick gel that looks & works like a Swarfega-type mechanics hand cleaner).Detergent molecules are polarised - one end binds to oils, the other to water. The chemical bond makes it harder for the oil to evaporate & it's the vapour that burns. “

how long a process like this would take and is this true?

thanks

[Enthalpy]

Partial answer: crude oil is a huge mixture of compounds, of which the lightest (smaller molecules) are volatile and flammable. If you remove the lighter fractions, the remaining heavier ones won't burn - for instance a lighter does nothing to Diesel oil at room temperature.

One should also keep in mind that flamability, as a result of vaporization, depends heavily on temperature. A safe compound at room temperature may become flammable at sunlight.

I don't see a direct link between viscosity and flammability. Maybe the "dilution" (more accurately the emulsion, as you describe it) with water reduces the flammability, but by how much, and worse, for how long? Emulsion aren't always stable, as you see in oil+vinegar sauce.

I'm not convinced at all that the detergent binds the crude oil's light molecules better than the crude oil's heavy molecules already do.

Crude oil and water are quite difficult to bind in an emulsion. Research has been done and big-scale attempts made at oil spills so that the oil disappears from the sea surface; it didn't succeed every time. Probably not any detergent - and good mixing must be required.

You could experiment by yourself. Take heating oil or lubricant oil and, depending on the crude, add gasoline or white spirit so the mix represents the flammable crude. Then test some detergents: soap, dishwashing soap, floor cleaner... You should soon observe that a water emulsion isn't easy to obtain, even less to stabilize. If you obtain an emulsion, observe if it's harder to light.

[Darryl1]

If you just want to solidify the crude, there are hydrogenated compounds where when mixed and heated will end up solidifying oils at room temperature.  However that would involve heating large amounts of crude which is probably not the safest thing to do.

BTW, it seems the most effective way to clean up oil spills is to get rid of the excess, then native bacteria seem to take care of the rest.  Lots of work has been done engineering bacteria to gobble up oil, but it seems in the wild, they can't out compete just the native bacteria.

-d

[Arkcon]

This question has come up before, and we haven't had good answers to date, so I'm glad your question, jjoll: has gotten some attention.  To keep it going, lets try to hear more from you regarding the application.   How much do you have, what exactly do you have, and why do you need to solidify or make it non-flammable.  Do you need to remediate some waste, or clean up an environmental spill?  And do you need the substance to be useful afterward.  If not, why not?  These are at least moderately expensive commodities, destroying them seems wasteful -- both to the loss of the commodity, and to the effort involved.

Consider:  a while back, some peanut butter made in the US was inadequately tested, and was contaminated with salmonella.  Many years later, some remains of the lot had to be destroyed, because the owner just wanted it gone -- this particular part of the batch was fine, it was just too embarrassing.  Trailer trucks of glass jar bottled food had to be land-filled in Mexico.  This was an extreme case, but you can see how sometimes, disposal is just excessive.