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348 comments on DrumBeat: July 24, 2008

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AlanfromBigEasy on July 24, 2008 - 9:30am Permalink | Subthread | Comments top

Mississippi River at New Orleans shut down for days

A tanker full of bio-diesel and styrene cut in two a wayward barge full of 10,000 barrels of #6 residual fuel oil yesterday morning. As of 9 PM yesterday, 25 ships held up. Collision less than 2 miles from my home.

The Coast Guard says that it will be days before they re-open the Lower Mississippi "depending on developing conditions". The Intercoastal Canal also appears to be shut down at New Orleans.

Water intakes for potable water in Algiers (New Orleans West Bank), St. Bernard and Plaquemines Parish shut down and potable water will need to be trucked in today or tomorrow morning if the oil does not clear by then.

The smell is gone around my home.

Alan

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Cargill on July 24, 2008 - 10:40am Permalink | Subthread | Parent | Comments top

Does bio-diesel and styrene mixed together give you environmentally friendly napalm?

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mkcmkc on July 24, 2008 - 1:31pm Permalink | Subthread | Parent | Comments top

Just out of curiosity, can this oil be recovered? It seems like for $120+ per barrel (I almost said "per gallon"), it might be worthwhile to suck it up and try to process it. Can you put a mixture of oil and seawater into a normal refinery?

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Vintermann on July 25, 2008 - 6:30am Permalink | Subthread | Parent | Comments top

It was biodiesel already, no need to put it into a refinery. Unlike ethanol it floats on water, but I doubt it can be profitably recovered. It will be polluted by bacteria, and that causes all sorts of problems.

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nelsone on July 24, 2008 - 3:23pm Permalink | Subthread | Parent | Comments top

Thank YHWH the styrene didn't leak - It's a hideously dangerous chemical: volatile, flammable, explosive, poisonous, and carcinogenic.
Polystyrene is dissolved in gasoline or diesel to make one of the recipes for napalm - not styrene.

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Bellistner on July 29, 2008 - 9:09pm Permalink | Subthread | Parent | Comments top

Hmmm. Model Rail enthusiasts use this stuff all the time to build things out of. ...Unless it's a different Styrene.

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AlanfromBigEasy on July 24, 2008 - 6:49pm Permalink | Subthread | Parent | Comments top

By 5 PM, more than 60 ocean going ships were backed up. Plus barges.

Alan

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348 comments on DrumBeat: July 24, 2008

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