MEMBER NEWS
SCI NEWS
Building bridges with industry
SHARON TODD EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR
At SCI, we pride ourselves on the strong and valuable links to industry that we have built since our incep- tion in 1881. Our current strategy is based on four pillars: aligned organisation of activities, benefits to encourage member engagement and growth, building connections with industry and strengthening corpo- rate partnership programmes to fuel innovation. We believe corporate members
are at the heart of this strategy, as we commit to promoting science- based innovation in industry and fa- cilitating the links between academic research and commercialisation. Current corporate members range
from multi-national organisations – in sustainable plastics, pharmaceu- ticals and food science – to intel- lectual property firms and research and development consultants. The diversity of our corporate partner- ships reflects the extensive range of interests in our wider membership, which encourage a unique forum for innovation. Corporate membership offers a host of benefits to the participating organisation such as our mentoring scheme, which continues to grow in popularity after successfully com- pleting its pilot phase this summer. Supporting early career scientists is a core objective of SCI, and we hope this scheme will encourage younger members to become more involved in business and innovative ventures. Corporate membership offers un-
paralleled networking by providing opportunities to host SCI events and activities, use facilities at our well- appointed offices in Belgrave Square and benefit from discounted access to SCI events and training. We look forward to furthering our
mission to create a multidisciplinary forum for the chemical industry by developing current and future relationships with our corporate memberships. Updates on corporate member activities will become avail- able as they progress.
SCI SCOTLAND GROUP COMPETITION
Minimising oil spill impacts
Luis Perez Calderon, a PhD student from the University of Aberdeen, is another winner from this year’s Where science meets business competition, run by SCI’s Scotland Group. Entrants write a short article outlining their PhD research project and how it is important to industry. Calderon’s article Minimising oil spill impacts – how can science protect business? follows below.
Deep-sea exploration for oil and gas is a direct response to the increase in world energy demand. Tapping into previously inaccessible resources poses technical and environmental challenges. Proof of this is the Deepwater Horizon accident (DwH), which resulted in the death of 11 crew members and the release of 4.9m barrels of crude oil into the Gulf of Mexico (GoM). Effective oil spill response requires a thorough understanding of how spilt oil behaves in the environment. Our present knowledge of oil spill science underpins the decision-making process after a spill to minimise environmental, social and economic fallout. The impacts of released oil are many and varied. Spilt oil sticks to seals, birds, dolphins and other marine animals. In most cases, they do not survive. Furthermore, carcinogenic hydrocarbons found in crude oil (polyaromatic hydrocarbons) are readily assimilated by marine life and can be transferred up the food chain to humans. Economic impacts include the closing of fisheries, loss of market value for involved operators and reduction of tourism. DwH resulted in a market value drop of over 50% for BP and the expenditure on handling the spill is estimated in the tens of billions of dollars. The Exxon Valdez oil spill (Alaska, 1989) resulted in the loss of over 26,000 jobs in the tourism industry alone; 27 years on, the industry has not fully recovered. DwH gave the scientific community
perspective on the effects of a deep-sea oil spill. Future spills in the GoM will likely result in far less environmental damage thanks to the extensive research conducted during and after the spill. However, the GoM has a unique set of oceanographic conditions, which are different from other areas of oil and gas exploration. Here in the UK, if a DwH-like oil spill took place
the lessons learned may not be directly transferable due to lower temperatures (frequently below 0°C) and rough seas, which make responding to spills far more challenging. Therefore, studying oil spill fates in all possible environmental conditions is important to understand their knock-on effects on the environment and build effective response strategies. This is further emphasised by the increased pressure of oil and gas operators to explore in Arctic waters where further difficulties arise. Key knowledge gaps in oil spill science include estimating how much oil settles on the seabed and its subsequent fate. Understanding biogeochemical interactions between spilt oil and the seabed helps us predict the environmental consequences of oil spills and how to facilitate ecosystem recovery. Increasing our understanding of oil spills in the North Sea is more important than ever before – now that deep-sea oil and gas exploration is on the rise – as more accessible reservoirs become depleted. My research aims to understand how spilt oil moves into and out of North Sea sediments. To achieve this, I simulate various oil-seabed interaction scenarios under different environmental conditions and determine which components of spilt oil remain in the water column, entrain the seabed or stick to sediment particles. Another key point of my research is to evaluate the implications of chemical dispersant application on oil-water- sediment transport processes. The use of dispersant is a debated issue in the scientific community at the moment as it remains unclear if it minimises oil spill impacts or exacerbates them. I believe my research is at
the intersection of science and business as oil spills can have a profoundly negative effect on both the environment and the economy. The conclusions of my research will hopefully improve current oil spill prediction models and aid responders in the decision-making process to minimise oil spill impacts.
48 08 | 2017
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