Characterization of the Evaporation
Rates of Complex Hydrocarbon
Mixtures Under Environmental Conditions
S.R. COODWZN, D . MACKAY’” and W . Y . SHIU
Department of Chemical Enghaeerbag and Applied Chemistry and Znstitute for Environmental Studies,
University of Toronto, Toronto, Ontario, M5S 1A4.
The characterization of the evaporation rate of complex hydro-
carbon mixtures, such as commercial oil fractions, under
environmental conditions is discussed. It is shown that the
relevant thermodynamic quantity is the total volume of vapour
(per unit of initial oil mass) removed under isothermal differ-
ential distillation conditions (V m8/kg) as a function of the
mass fraction of the oil remaining (F). Plots of F versus V for
various isothermal conditions can be used to estimate evaporation
rates since it is shown that V is equivalent to the group
KsAsrs/Ms where Ks is the evaporation mass transfer CD.
efficient (m/s), As is the spill area (ma), tg is the evaporation
time (s) and Ms is the spill mas (kg). The basis of a method-
ology for estimating environmental evaporation rates is &us
outlined. Methods of obtaining V v m s F data are discussed,
with calibrated wind tunnel evaporations being preferred. The
estimation of evaporation rates under spreading and non-is*
thermal conditions and the analogous dissolution p~ocessare
discussed briefly.
W hen crude oil or a commercial oil fraction is ac-
cidentally spilled on water it is subject to a
number of physical, chemical and biological processes
collectively termed “weathering”. An understanding
of these processes is essential to the development of
clean-up measures, to the assessment of the physical
and biological effects of such spills, and to t h e identi-
fication of an oil spill source f o r legal purposes. Since
these various processes are only poorly understood at
present it is impossible to predict the change in com-
position of the oil with time. A further difficulty is
the complex chemical nature of the oil with only a
relatively small number of hydrocarbon components
being readily identifiable. It is thus suggested here
that it is desirable to develop a method of simulating
weathering processes in the laboratory. This can then
be used to predict the rates of these processes in
the environment and generate samples of weathered
oil which can be used for physical property measure-
ment and possibly for legal identification purposes.
The two most important weathering processes are
believed to be evaporation and dissolution. Other
processes such a s microbial degradation, chemical
oxidation or polymerization a r e slower, while water-
in-oil and oil-in-water emulsion formation occur only
under turbulent conditions and may not affect the
chemical nature of the oil, although there is a pro-
found physical effect, for example on viscosity.
The weathering process has been studied by Mackay
and Matsugu(*),Smith and MacIntyre“), Harrison e t
Shadier and Mikolaj“), and by Scott et al.(5).
.Corra.pondencr : Dr. D. Mackw
290 The Canadian ]ournal of Chemical Engineering, Vol. 5 4 , August, I976
O n discute la caracthisation du taux d’kvaporation de mk-
langes complexes d’hydrocarbures (tels que les fractions d’huiles
commerciales) dans les conditions ambiantes. On dCmontre que
la quantitk thermodynamique pertinente est le volume total
de vapeur (par unit6 de masse initiale d’huile) enlev6 dans
les conditions isothermiques de la distillation diffbrentielle
(V m8/kg.) en fonction de la fraction de masse de I’huile
restante (F). Ont peut employer des representations graphiques
de F, en fonction de V pour diverses conditions isothermiques,
pour &valuer les taux d’kaporation, vu qu’on constate que V
(5quivaut au groupe KsAs7/Ms, oh Ks est le coefficient de
transfert de masse par Cvaporation (m/s), As est la surface de
la mare (m,), ts est le temps d‘kvaporation (s) et M, est la
masse de la mare (k.g.). On e w e ainsi la base d’une m&hodo-
logie pour Bvaluer les taux d‘bvaporation ambiante. O n discute
les mkhodes pour obtenir des donndes en tunnel akrodynamiqne.
On discute brikement l’haluation des taux d‘kvaporation dans
des conditions non isothermiques et impliquant l’expansion de
l’huile.
None of these studies included an attempt to predict
the change in evaporation rate with time as the more
volatile material is lost. The dissolution process has
been almost completely neglected in such studies since
it is not regarded a s a significant mechanism of mass
loss from a spill. The small amounts of hydrocarbons
which a r e dissolved (mainly aromatics) may however
have profound toxic effects.
The approach adopted here has been to devise lab-
oratory evaporation and dissolution methods and re-
late these treatments to t h e rates expected in typical
environmental conditions.
Laboratory simulation of evaporation
It seems logical to characterize an oil by an iso-
thermal distillation under conditions close to those
experienced in the environment. These data can then
be used directly and reliably to predict environmental
evaporation rates.
Mackay e t al.“) conducted such an evaporation to
characterize crude oils using a wind tunnel in which
continuously weighed crude oil samples were evapo-
rated in pans for several days. A plot of oil mass
versus logarithm of time gave an approximately
straight line. The disadvantage of this method is that
the evaporation rate is controlled by the evaporation
mass transfer coefficient which is in t u r n controlled
by the tunnel wind speed, turbulence, heat transfer
and pool size. There is also some difficulty in obtain-
ing truly isothermal conditions and some risk of hete-
rogeneity in the oil composition especially as the vis-
cosity increases and the oil mixes more slowly. In ex-
treme cases a skin may form on the oil surface and
act as a barrier to evaporation of the more volatile
material below.
Ideally, evaporation should be characterized under
controlled isothermal conditions with assured perfect
liquid mixing and without the rate uncertainty intro-
duced by a mass transfer coefficient. A system de-
scribed here was designed to achieve this and provide
data on the mass loss of a stirred oil sample when a
known volume of vapour is removed during a dif-
ferential isothermal evaporation process, As the
evaporation proceeds each differential volume of
vapour is removed from the system independently,
the pressure of each volume element falling as evap-
oration proceeds. The method is not truly differential
since the volume elements are finite, however, if a
sufficiently large number is taken the difference is
small.
A major purpose of this analysis is to compare
laboratory evaporation methods using wind tunnels
and isothermal distillation, especially with regard to
simulating environmental conditions. In addition the
mechanism of translating laboratory data to en-
vironmental conditions is considered.
Experimental
Isothermal distillation apparatus
The apparatus is shown in Figure 1. It consists of
a 100 m' flask containing the oil which is stirred
by an external magnetically driven Teflon-coated stir-
ring bar. The flask is connected through a magnetical-
ly operated solenoid vacuum valve (1) to an empty
0.091 1n3 steel propane tank and valve (2) a s shown.
The system can be evacuated to .01 torr. The valves
are activated by a timer. The flask is submerged
in a constant temperature bath and the tank is kept
about 5 ° C warmer by heating tape to prevent any
possibility of condensation in the tank.
The operating procedure consists of first closing
valve ( 1 ) and evacuating the tank through t h e open
valve ( 2 ) . Valve (2) is then closed and valve (1)
opened and the system allowed 15 minutes to reach
equilibrium. Valve (1) is then closed, and valve (2)
opened and the contents of the tank evacuated. The
cycle is then repeated. The flask is occasionally dis-
connected and weighed to obtain the mass of oil as a
function of cycle number. A counter mounted on the
I V G E 1 , V E 2
__
TANK
ISOTHERMAL D l S T l L L A T l O l APPARATUS
Figure 1 - Schematic diagram of isothermal distillation appa-
ratus.
The Canadian Journal of Chemical Engineering, Vol. 5 4 , August, 1976
timer gives the number of cycles, the pumping cycle
being automatic and capable of 24 hour operation.
The data obtained are initially plotted as the oil
mass remaining as a function of the total volume of
vapour removed, that is, the number of cycles times
the capacity of the tank. For further analysis and
scale up i t is more convenient to convert the data to
a graphical form in which the fraction of the original
mass remaining ( F ) is plotted against the total volume
of vapour removed per kg of original oil, i.e., n v l M D
where n is the number of cycles, v the tank volume
(mS) and MD the original mass of oil. Such a plot is
shown in Figure 2 for samples of Norman Wells
crude oil. The advantage of this form of graph is
that it is independent of the size of the oil sample and
the tank volume and is thus truly a characteristic
property of the oil. Since the evaporation rate of
crude oil falls rapidly it is convenient to use a logarith-
mic scale for the volume axis.
Wind tunnel apparatus
A low speed wind tunnel with a cross section of
30.5 by 30.5 m was used to evaporate oil samples
from a 24.5 m by 34.5 em deep tray mounted on a
top loading balance, with t h e oil surface lying flush
with the bottom of t h e tunnel. A description of the
tunnel and its performance has been provided by
Matsugu'6'. The a i r velocity was maintained at a
constant setting by fixed baffles. The velocity of
about 2.5 W L / S a t the centre, is high enough to cause
a reasonable evaporation rate but low enough to pre-
vent liquid splashing from the tray. Oil temperatures
were monitored by a thermistor-recorder system.
An oil sample of about 500 g was placed in the
t r a y and evaporation started, the mass of the oil being
periodically recorded and plotted as oil mass versus
logarithm of time. The resulting data were found to
be fairly linear, although this is entirely fortuitous.
To compare the wind tunnel data with the isothermal
distillation data it is necessary to know the evapora-
tion mass transfer coefficient. This can be readily
determined by evaporating a liquid of known vapour
pressure under identical flow conditions. Cumene
(isopropyl benzene) was selected since it has a similar
Schmidt Number to the evaporating oil and its evap-
oration rate is sufficiently slow to prevent a large
"wet bulb" temperature effect, yet sufficiently f a s t
to give a reasonable evaporation rate. The evapora-
tion mass transfer coefficient K ( m l s ) was deter-
mined directly from the evaporation rate E ( k g l s )
the tray area a ( m z ) ,the cumene vapour pressure P
,9, ~
E U M
"7 I~
.
OLD 'IJMP
111r
05k
I~0I"IIM.L D l I l l L l r l ~
<,"d.Oil 11.1 0
'J bI
, cv; ":,TI" 0 , , ,,,,, b, , , ~ ~ ,, , , , y
#,A
.", 1 XCA MI db-'
Figure 2 - Plot of fractioii of oil remaining F against V for
wind tunnel evaporation at 25 'C and isothermal distillations
evaporations at 25°C and 45°C.
291
( a t m ) using the equation
E = KPamlRT
where m is the molecular weight of cumene ( k g l g m o l ) ,
R is the gas constant ( a f m m'lgmol K ) and T the
ambient temperature ( K ) .
I t should be noted that i t is assumed here t h a t the
liquid phase is perfectly mixed at all times and that
there is no liquid phase mass transfer resistance.
This assumption is valid when the oil viscosity is
low and the eddy diffusivity high. Some qualitative
tests in which particles suspended in the oil were
observed demonstrated that the oil had a circulating
motion, induced by the air flow. Provided t h a t the
oil "mixing time" (observed to be a few seconds f o r
low viscosity oils) is negligible compared to the
evaporation time (typically several days) there should
be no liquid phase resistance effect. As crude oil
evaporates its viscosity increases and i t may become
necessary to thoroughly stir the oil a t regular in-
tervals.
The mass transfer coefficient is undoubtedly slight-
ly dependent on the mass transfer rate but the effect
will be small a t low transfer rates and the accuracy
required for environmental calculations is not suf-
ficient to justify introducing this complication.
Again i t proves convenient to plot the data in
modified form, in this case a s t h e fraction of the
oil mass remaining ( F ) as a function of the group
K T A I M ~where
~ 7 is the evaporation time (s) and M W
the original oil mass (kg). Figure 2 shows such a
plot for Normal Wells crude oil and for diesel oil.
The advantage of this conversion is demonstrated
in the next section where i t is shown that the terms
K r A I M w from the wind tunnel data and nv/MI, a r e
equivalent.
Conversion of experimental evaporation data
to enuironmental conditions
The evaporation loss of a mass of oil spilled under
environmental conditions can be estimated using a
mass transfer coefficient approach. If a mass transfer
coefficient K , mls applied to an area of A. m2 covered
by oil of initial mass M, kg of vapour pressure P a t m
then during an element of time dt s the quantity
evaporated will be (K,A,P d t / R T ) moles where T is
the absolute temperature and R the gas constant
(atm d / g ~ I<).
d or by using a mean area (with respect to time)
As evaporation proceeds, P falls, and the amount
evaporated becomes
& ['Pdt = K . A T r , / R T M , molslkg
where 7. is the elapsed time and 7 is the mean vapour
pressure. K , and A. are assumed constant.
In the isothermal distillation apparatus a volume
v ms of vapour (the volume of the tank) is removed
from an initial M D kg of oil each cycle thus leading
to a quantity evaporated of v P I R T moles.
For n equilibrations the amount evaporated is thus
-P will be equal for both evaporation methodsif a
sufficient number of evaporation cycles rt is taken
and the same oil is taken to t h e same fraction evap-
292
orated, n and 7 being linearly related
0
Environmental evaporation is truly differential
whereas the isothermal distillation apparatus uses a
finite difference approach. However, these become
equivalent for a large number of cycles. Equivalent
fractions will thus be evaporated from the environ-
mental spill and the isothermal distillation apparatus
when the temperatures are equal and when K.A,T,f M ,
equals nvlMn.
In a wind tunnel the corresponding mass transfer
coefficient, area, original mass and time may be
K,, mls, A , mz, M , kg and rtLs giving the comparable
group K,,A,,rW/M u .
Experimental evaporation data of either type a r e
thus readily converted to environmental conditions
provided that the environmental mass transfer coef-
ficient can be estimated. Mackay and Matsugu"' have
correlated the mass transfer coefficient against wind
speed U m l s , pool size 2 na, and vapour phase Schmidt
number Sc as follows:
K , = 0.0048 ( J O . 7 8 Z-0.11 s c - O . G i
In summary, an initial mass of oil M, ky evaporat-
ing under environmental spill conditions with area
A , and mass transfer coefficient K , after r. s will
reach the same fraction evaporated as a wind tunnel
evaporation with corresponding values M,,, A,, K ,
and rw and as an isothermal distillation in which
n volumes of v m' are evaporated from an initial M,, k g
when
K.A,r,/M, = K,A,r,/M, = nv/Mo = V
It is assumed that equal temperatures apply to all
three processes and that the oil is perfectly mixed.
The most convenient method of presenting labora-
tory data is thus as mass fraction of oil remaining
( F ) as a function of n v / M D or K,A,T~/M, i.e.
V mS/kg.
For a given spill, the larger the area the faster
the rate of evaporation since there is a greater area
exposed per unit mass and the spill is correspondingly
thinner. For spreading spills A , continuously in-
creases and is a function of time. This effect can be
included in the prediction by integrating the area
with respect to time if the spreading rate is known
in the equation. Strictly, the effect of a change in
area should be included in estimating K. since K , de-
pends on 2 (or A 8 ) . However, the effect is slight
since the power on Z is small.
The general case of a spill which is spreading and
is subject to varying wind conditions can be solved
by a finite difference method
AM = K.(t)A, ( t ) A t P ( F ) / R T = A F M.
For the element of time At mean values o f K , ( t )
and A.(t) a r e selected and the quantity K , ( t )
A. ( t )a t / M . calculated. This is numerically equal
to AV and t h e values of AF corresponding to
this A V can be read off the experimental F versus V
graph directly. If the F , V data are curve fitted, the
value of AF can be calculated analytically. The graph
or fitted equation contains the dependence of P on F
and there is no need to calculate a vapour pressure.
By repeating this calculation, the spill mass, volume
and thickness can be expressed as a function of time.
The mass loss during time at will be M. AF.
The Canadian Iournal of Chemical Engineering, Vol. 5 4 , August, 1976
 If the temperature of the spill differs from that in
the laboratory i t is necessary to include a correction
for the vapour pressure, the RT term and possibly K..
By assuming a typical hydrocarbon vapour pressure-
temperature relation (Antoine Equation) and the
group A V can be proportionately increased or de-
creased to accommodate these effects. For example, if
the experimental data are at 20°C and the spill a t
30°C then the value of AV should be increased by
the ratio ( P at 3 O o C ) l ( P a t 20°C) and decreased by
the ratio (293/303) to include the vapour pressure
and RT effects respectively. The temperature depend-
ence of evaporation rates has been examined by
Regnier and Scott"' who obtained evaporation "ac-
tivation energies" for diesel oil. Their data suggest
that it is prudent to obtain experimental values for
the temperature dependence.
This approach can be used to predict the evapora-
tion rate of an oil spill on land o r water to any de-
sired degree of complexity. The principal error lies
in the uncertainty in the mass transfer coefficient
especially on rough seas and when whitecapping is
present. I t has been observed that the onset of white-
capping greatly increases the evaporation rate, pro-
bably by the marked increase in turbulence in the air
immediately above the oil. For spills on land, the
absorption of oil into soil or vegetation will have to
be considered. For spills on water dissolution and
emulsification also occur and any attempt to model
the total behaviour of the spill must include these
processes.
Discussion
The data in Figure 2 for crude oil evaporation a t
25°C under wind tunnel and isothermal distillation
conditions show reasonable agreement. Differences
between the points are readily attributable to experi-
mental errors such as imperfect mixing in the oil
pool or surface oil cooling in the wind tunnel. AS
crude oil evaporation approaches 60% remaining the
oil vapour pressure becomes very low and the presence
of any leaks or pumping inefficiencies in the iso-
thermal distillation vacuum system become critically
important. Raising the temperature increases t h e oil
vapour pressure but reduces the vapour density. The
net effect is a lowering of the F versus V curve, the
vapour pressure change being greater. Values of
V at different temperatures a r e thus not directly
comparable and data should be obtained for the re-
quired temperature.
The diesel oil data show a slightly faster initial
evaporation rate possibly due to the presence of more
lower boiling hydrocarbons, followed by a slower rate
after about 20% had evaporated. The location of the
curve is a function of the relative proportions of the
hydrocarbons of various volatilities.
It is concluded that although either method can
generate the required data the accuracy of both
measurements is still undesirably low and some
improvements are necessary. Before undertaking such
improvements, it is desirable to assess the usefulness
of this approach in characterising evaporation, par-
ticularly in preparing weathered oil samples and in
achieving evaporation a t a rate comparable t o that
in the environment, i.e., the time scale.
Ideally any laboratory apparatus should be capable
of evaporating or dissolving oil a t a rate at least
as great as occurs in the environment. For example,
in clean-up the f i r s t two days after the spill a r e
probably the most critical. The laboratory apparatus
The Canadian Iournal of Chemical Engineering, Vol. 54, August, 1976
should thus be capable of simulating this two day
period in about two days of laboratory time. One
hundred days would be unacceptable.
A typical environmental evaporation mass transfer
coefficient is about lo-' m / s or 36 mlhr. A spill of
thickness 1 mm has a coverage of about 1 m'lkg.
Thus the extent of mass transfer would correspond
to a K , A S ~ . l M svalue of 864 msllcg per day.
A 1 leg laboratory sample should thus be subjected
to the removal of 864 m,? of vapour per day a t am-
bient temperatures. This amount is clearly beyond
the capacity of most small scale isothermal distilla-
tion systems which could achieve a volumetric removal
rate of an average of about 1 Umin or 1.44 m'lday,
the limitations being the pumping capacity and the
equilibration time. A solution to this problem is to
reduce the initial mass of the oil sample to about
1.7 y which then give a vapour removal rate of 864
m,?/k y day, equivalent to the environmental rate.
The preparation of large samples of weathered oil
is thus best done in wind tunnels where environmen-
tal conditions can be simulated directly on a one-to-
one time scale. For physical and chemical property
measurements there is a strong incentive to use a
low oil mass (i.e., a few grams).
Laboratory simulation of dissolution
A similar approach could be used to simulate oil
dissolution into an aqueous phase. In this case a vol-
ume of oil would be contacted with a series of vol-
umes of water, preferably in a system with little or
no vapour space. Since liquid-liquid mass transfer is
generally slower than vapour-liquid mass transfer it
would be necessary to accelerate the mass transfer
rate by agitation or stirring.
Mathematically such a dissolution system is analo-
gous to the vapourization system and i t can be shown
t h a t if the environmental sample of mass M. k g of
area A , n? is contacted for T. s with a liquid mass
transfer coefficient KL mls then this is equivalent to
contacting M E k g of oil in the laboratory differentially
with a total volume V E m? of water where KLA,r.IM, =
VE/ME.
Liss and Slater"' have suggested that 10 cml hr is a
typical liquid phase mass transfer coefficient at the
ocean surface. Under an oil spill a lower value of the
order of 3 cmlhr may be typical or one thousandth
of the value for evaporation. The volume of water
which must be contacted with the oil is thus about
1 m'lkg to simulate a one day spill of thickness of
1 mm. Clearly again there is a strong incentive to
use small oil samples. The major experimental dif-
ficulty lies in ensuring that appreciable quantities of
oil are not lost by emulsion formation.
Since only the aromatics and lower alkanes have
appreciable aqueous solubilities (i.e., greater than
10 g / m S ) it is likely t h a t only these hydrocarbons
will be appreciably dissolved. A 1 kg sample of crude
oil containing for example 10% of hydrocarbons ex-
hibiting an average total solubility of 10 g/m' will re-
quire contact with about 10 msof water to extract these
hydrocarbons, a process which will take about 10 days.
Since the most soluble hydrocarbons tend also to be
the most volatile and are lost by evaporation in the
f i r s t day it is likely that dissolution ceases to be
important after 1 day except in the case of thick,
poorly mixed oil spills. It is clearly preferable t o
identify those hydrocarbons which a r e dissolving by
analysing the aqueous phase rather than t h e oil phase.
293
Methodology
The experimental and theoretical work described
here provide a rational and rigorous methodology for
characterising the evaporation rates of hydrocarbon
mixtures. The data contained i n a plot of V versus
fraction evaporated are truly thermodynamic in na-
ture. Such plots can be prepared for commercial oils
which are subject to spillage and can be used to es-
timate evaporation rates under environmental condi-
tions. In many respects this curve is the isothermal
analog of the ASTM 086 isobaric distillation curve
commonly used to characterise oil fractions. A mass
transfer coefficient can be readily estimated as a
function of wind speed and pool size for any en-
vironmental conditions and the corresponding evapora-
tion rate in terms of time to achieve a certain degree
of evaporation calculated using the plot, even during
spreading. It would be desirable to have a series of
plots covering the likely range of environmental tem-
peratu res.
This experimental work demonstrated the general
feasibility of using both methods to obtain such plots
and has elucidated the nature of the experimental
difficulties. For practical purposes, the best approach
is probably to use a wind tunnel with periodic liquid
mixing. Although the isothermal distillation proce-
dure could be refined and improved to give greater
accuracy, this would require extensive experimental
modification to improve the vacuum system and pre-
ferably weigh the oil sample in situ. It may be most
useful for handling relatively volatile oils such as
gasoline where a faster evaporation rate can be
achieved.
A similar approach can be used for characterisa-
tion of dissolution rate but the low solubilities and
low mass transfer rates result in only slight changes
in the oil composition which a r e unlikely to be of en-
vironmental significance.
In an environmental emergency such as an oil spill
on water or a crash of a road tanker carrying gaso-
line, it is unlikely that there would be time to under-
take any detailed calculations of evaporation rates
such as are described here. Such data would however
be useful in enabling the duration of the f i r e hazard
to be assessed and the contribution of evaporation in
removing the oil or modifying its properties to be
estimated. Accordingly, i t is suggested t h a t the data
could be stored and processed in nomograph form for
use in emergency situations.
Conclusions
It has been shown that in characterising the
evaporation rate of hydrocarbon mixtures the ap-
propriate truly thermodynamic quantity is the total
volume V of hydrocarbons vapour ( a t its ambient
vapour pressure) evaporated under isothermal dif-
ferential distillation conditions per unit mass of oil
and the corresponding mass fraction remaining un-
evaporated F . Plots of F versus V for various tem-
peratures provide a convenient and rigorous method
of storing data on the isothermal evaporation char-
acteristics of an oil mixture.
It has been shown that V is equivalent to the
group K.A.7.1 M. which represents the environmental
P p
294 The Canodian Iournal of Chemical Engineering, VoE. 5 4 , August, 1976
evaporation conditions of mass transfer coefficient
(which can be estimated from correlations as a func-
tion primarily of wind speed), spill area and mass
(which can be readily determined from the spill thick-
ness and density) and the evaporation time.
With some increase in numerical complexity, the
evaporation rate of a spreading and non-isothermal
spill can be treated.
Methods of obtaining V versus F data have been
discussed and it is suggested that the most convenient
method is wind tunnel evaporation under known mass
transfer coefficient conditions.
An analogous characterisation for dissolution has
been developed but this is of little practical use.
It is hoped that this methodology will be of value
in characterising oil fractions and in enabling evapora-
tion rates in the environment to be readily and ac-
curately calculated.
Acknowledgments
The authors are grateful to the National Research Council of Canada
and the Inland Waters Directorate of Environment Canada for finan-
cial support.
Nomenclature
A = oil spill area m2
a = tray area m2
E = evaporation rate kg/s
F = mass fraction of oil remaining
K = mass transfer coefficient m / s
m = molecular weight of cumene kglmol
M = original mass of oil kg
A M = incremental change in mass kg
n = number of cycles
P = vapour pressure atm
p = mean vapour pressure alm
R = as constant atm m3/mol K
s,
i
=
=
8time
chmidt number
s
T = temperature K
IJ = wind speed m / s
v = volume of vapour removed per unit initial mass-of
oil m3/kg
u = tank volume m3
x = pool diameter m
z = pool width m
A = incremental value
r = time s
Subscrifits
D = under isothermal distillation conditions
E = under dissolution conditions
o = original value at zero time
* = under spill conditions
= under wind tunnel conditions
References
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(2) Smith, C. L. and MacIn&e W.G.. Proc. Joint Conf. on Prevenl
tion and Control of Oil Shills, API. p. 119, Washington. D.C.
(1973).
(3) Harribon, W.. Winnick, M. 0..Kwong, P. T. Y. and Mackay. D..
Env. Sci. and Tech., 9. 231 (1976).
(4) Sivadier, H.O. and Mikolaj. P. G., Proc. Joint Conf. on Preven-
t’p_n__andControl of Oil S p j l l ~ , API, p. 476, Washington, D.C.
(lY“3).
( 6 ) Scott, B. F.. “Investigation of the Weathering of a Selected Crude
Oil in a
Cold Environment” in “Water Quality Parameters”, AS’Rd
STP 673 p. 614 Philadelphia PA (1976).
( 6 ) Matsup;, R. S..’M.A.Sc. Thesis Univ. of Toronto (1973)
(7) Mackau, D.. Charles, M. E. an’d Phillips C. R. Crude Oil Spills on
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(8) Regnier, 2. R. and Scott, B. F., Env. Sci. and Tech 9, 469 (1976).
(9) Liss, P. S. and Slater. P. 0..Nature, 247, 181 (1974):’
Manuscript received October 22. 1975 ; accepted for publication March
24, 1976.
* * *