Spill Containment is the key to Spill management.

When it comes to Spill Containment so much depends on what is spilt and where the spill occurs.

In Spill Management control terms there are three phases you may have to deal with when it comes to Spill Containment:

• Gas phase,
• Liquid phase,
• Solid phase.

A Gas:

Gases may quickly form after a liquid spill occurs. That is why spill containment of a liquid needs to be very fast and very effective or you may well end up with a secondary containment issue as gases from.

Take almost any volatile liquid (acid, alkaline or hydrocarbon) and given the right conditions the liquid will rapidly volatilise (turn into a gas) when a spill occurs. The problem is accentuated if the surface onto which the spill occurs is hot (e.g. roadway, concrete or metal tray) or if the spill occurs in an area in which there is poor ventilation. Heat will often cause a liquid, such as a hydrocarbon, to quickly change to a gas. When a spill occurs in a confined space with poor ventilation even small amounts of gas become highly concentrated in a small area and can have an impact on staff in the room.

In terms of spill containment a gas is the most difficult phase to control as it is very mobile, invisible, it can travel in the air and works its way through very small cracks and spaces. Whats worse is that as most gases  is less stable than a liquid or a solid they are more likely to cause an explosion that either of the other two phases.

A Liquid:

A Liquid spill is simpler to handle in terms of spill containment because you can usually see a liquid and it is slower moving than a gas.

That said an oil or fuel spill on or near water presents a whole new set of potential spill management and spill control problems in terms of spill containment. Once an oil spill or hydrocarbon spill finds water spill containment extremely challenging as the oil or fuel starts to move and travel more like a gas.

A Solid:

A Solid material spill is by far the simplest spill to manage because obviously a solid is not likely to move very fast. That said certain solids are still difficult to deal with given their potential to harm human beings. The most obvious solids that f into this category are:

• radioactive waste,
• asbestos dust
• powdered chemicals (e.g. pool chlorine)

Airborne dust from any of these solids is a cause for very real concern. Spill prevention and spill containment are essential when these Hazmat materials are handled.

Spill containment for the more common liquid spills:

One of the simplest methiods of spill containment is to change a liquid to a solid using an absorbent. Once that is done the spill becomes much easier to clean up and the job of spill containment is much more straightforward. A good organic absorbent makes a volitile liquid (e.g. fuels, deisel, etc.) far more stable and less likely to turn into a gas thus reducing the chance of an explosion. 

There are a variety of spill containment products on the market:

1. Organic absorbents:

• organic absorbents are a very effective means of spill containment for most common liquid spills (hydrocarbons, battery acid, coolants, paints, pool chlorine etc) basically anything that is not highly reactive.
• organic absorbents have the highest absorbency rates of any product commonly sold.
• organic absorbents have an absorbency rate of approximately 4 times their own weight.
• That means a 10kg bag will absorb about 40lt of most common hydrocarbons.

2. Bunds and Portable bunding (click here for more):

• a portable bund is extremely useful and a spill containment product that is very under used.
• small and mobile or large and mobile it is your choice.
• easy to relocate in a single workshop or move to a new location as required.
• very cost effective i.e. buy a good one and it will last for years and ‘patch/repair’ kits are available.
• great for high risk areas or for semi-permanent storage areas.
• huge variety of purpose built products.

3.Mineral based ‘kitty litter’ adsorbents:

• can adsorb at a rate of about 0.2-0.4 times their own rate.
• the standard 20kg bag will absorb 4-8lt of most common hydrocarbons.
• old product, low tec solution and quite frankly most often there are much better solutions now-a-days.

4. Absorbent Pads and Polypropylene products:

• 

  PPHDP100

  will absorb at about 0.7 which means that a standard melt blown pad will absorb between 50-75mls.

• Spun bonded absorbent pads adsorb even less.
• polypropylene is one of the poorest performers in terms of how much it will clean up
• polypropylene ansorbents are the most expensive spill containment product commonly used.
• polypropylene absorbent pads are a very poor environmental choice as this material does not biodegrade.
• polypropylene absorbents do have distinct advantages to for hydrocarbon spills on or near waterways.

That said in terms of spill containment polypropylene products remain the most widely used.

Your final thoughts when it comes to spill containment should be:

• what you are most likely to spill.
• and where your most likely to deploy your spill control absorbents?

For example you may have a standard vehicle type spill kit  on a piece of earth moving equipment. If that machine is moved to an area near or in a waterway then you may require a marine spill kit (see) and a silt curtain to ensure you have met you spill containment obligations. There is absolutely no point in having the best ‘vehicle spill kit’ if the earth mover you own is leaking diesel into a lake!