Prestige: Oil product treatment
Different technical solutions have been carried out to treat the emulsion collected at sea and the oiled material collected on the shoreline. In Galicia, the liquid products were sent to refinery or to waste oil treatment centres such as Enviroll, situated in As Somoras. The latter separated the hydrocarbons from seawater and sediments. In this case, the sands stemming from the separation have been sent to a treatment centre.
Regarding the polluted materials recovered on the shoreline, the example of the treatment centre of “la proteccion Medioambiental” is of high interest. The residual polluted sand has been recovered by its mixing with clay after it had been separated from water and hydrocarbons. The firing of this mixture permitted to obtain ceramic bricks totally inert and usable for building work.
Shoreline cleanup is continuing in Spain, the number of volunteers has reached around 10.000 but now the government only allows 4.500, of which approximately half are volunteers and the other half drawn from the armed services. Manual collection of oil is the main method of shoreline cleanup, although mechanical beach cleaning machines have been used on sand beaches. Because many of the affected sites are difficult to access, an extensive road-building programme has been undertaken to facilitate cleanup operations.
In
France, most of the shorelines affected are composed of relatively
hard-packed sand, which are relatively easy to clean, either manually
or mechanically. Around 900 people have been working to the south
of the river Gironde and a further 100 people to the north.
Last update: June
2003