From Tankers To Tissues – Tracking The Degradation And Fate Of Oil Discharges In Port Valdez, Alaska
The Alyeska Pipeline Service Company (APSC) Ballast Water Treatment Facility (BWTF) at the terminus of the Trans-Alaska Pipeline in Port Valdez, Alaska, treats and discharges an average of nine million gallons per day of oil-contaminated ballast water offloaded from the tankers utilizing the Port. This study quantifies the fractions of benzene, toluene, ethylbenzene, and xylene(s) (BTEX), polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAH), and saturated hydrocarbons (SHC) being removed at different stages of treatment inside the terminal and evaluates the relative importance of abiotic (aeration) versus microbial processes.