![]() ![]() But those variations aside, most oils were very similar to one another. It might vary in how much sulphur it has, making it sweet or sour, and it might vary in molecular weight, making it heavy or light. Run the clock back to 1950 or 1980 or even 2000 and look inside a barrel of oil. “We’ve demonstrated that we have the means to delineate small differences in vapor oil pressures and composition,” Lord told me, “but the million-dollar question is: Does it result in any hazard consequence on the ground in real terms?” And this year, they will try to understand what those different solutions of hydrocarbons do in the real world. Over the last several years, Lord and the team have shown that they can accurately identify the components of different oils and their volatility. These light components are more volatile, and it seems logical that oils with higher levels of volatility might be more dangerous to transport. But the lighter substances have mostly been ignored by the industry’s standard procedures. Traditional techniques have been good at tracking the heavy stuff because those molecules are worth more businesses measure it precisely because they need to. As more types of liquid fossil fuels are extracted in more varied ways, the actual chemical components that go into a barrel have become more variable.ĭavid Lord and a team at Sandia National Laboratories have been working on finding and developing methods for analyzing oils from different fields to quickly assay their chemical constituents. Some are very light, literally meaning there are fewer atoms of carbon per molecule-think propane-and others are heavy-think tar or the bitumen in asphalt. Oil is composed of many different hydrocarbons of different kinds. Researchers and oil industry workers know that what we call “oil” has undergone a massive change over the last 15 years. ![]() Media attention has declined in lockstep, but there are still open questions about the chemical properties of these oils-many of which are produced from newly tapped shale formations around the country. As more pipelines have come into play, the rail-transport boom out of North Dakota has eased-approximately 150,000 barrels of oil travel the rails each day now, down from over 800,000 barrels at the peak in late 2014. These explosions, and several other high-profile derailments and spills, called attention to the danger of transporting crude oil in unprecedented amounts on the North American rail system. If all doesn’t go well, a similar massive fireball could go up over a derailed train, as happened in the town of Lac-Mégantic in July of 2013, killing 42 people, or outside Casselton, North Dakota, in December of that year, where somehow there were no reported injuries. It will be part of a multiyear Department of Energy research project to understand whether the chemical composition of unconventional crude oils changes the risk they pose to the nation’s highways, pipelines, and railroads. If all goes well, a massive fireball of hydrocarbons will ignite in the New Mexico desert some time in the next year.
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