The role of dispersants’ dynamic interfacial tension in effective crude oil spill dispersion

The dispersion effectiveness of dispersants containing Tween 80, Span 80, and dioctyl sodium sulfosuccinate (DOSS) was characterized using a modified Swirling Flask test, and was correlated with both initial and dynamic interfacial tension produced by those dispersants at an oil–water interface. Compositional trends in effectiveness were shown to be governed by: (1) initial oil–water interfacial tension observed upon dispersant–oil–saltwater contact; (2) rate of increase (or decrease) from the initial interfacial tension as DOSS was rapidly lost to the aqueous phase; and (3) gradually slowing kinetics of dispersant adsorption to the oil–water interface as Span 80 concentration was increased, which ultimately diminished dispersion effectiveness considerably even as dynamic interfacial tension remained <10−3 mN/m. It is proposed that this third phenomenon results not only from the hydrophobicity of Span 80, but also from the dependence of mixed Tween–Span–DOSS reverse micelles’ stability in crude oil on dispersant composition.