Reuse of the crude oil spilled on the Brazilian Coast in 2019 as an alternative fuel in the cement industry

1. Home
2. Publications
3. Online Library
4. Reuse of the crude oil spilled on the Brazilian Coast in 2019 as an alternative fuel in the cement industry

In 2019, a crude oil spill disaster on the Brazilian Coast, known as the most extensive environmental disaster in the country's history, reached 1,000 km of Northeast and Southeast regions and affected 11 states, 130 municipalities, 1,009 locations, and also, compromised protected areas and the subsistence of thousands artisanal fishers. This unprecedented environmental catastrophe started to be observed in August 2019 and lasted until March 2020, and despite the extreme circumstances it did not receive the required attention in a short period of time from the Brazilian Federal government, whose inaction led to greater long-term consequences. After chromatography analysis, it was proven that the crude source was from an oil tanker on the way from Venezuela to South Africa. In accordance with Brazilian Navy reports, it was collected 5,379.76 tons of waste which was reused as an alternative fuel in cement industries - in order to substitute, even partially, fossil fuels (such as coke and coal) - instead of being disposed of in landfill, since of the seven cement factories in the Northeast region, five received the amount of oil waste collected on the coast. In such context, this article, analyzing the mentioned oil spill disaster as a case study, aims to present the official data related to the amount of oil recovered, as well as its respective destination, since there has been no wide dissemination of such information even in light of the seriousness of this tragedy. Therefore, it was made an assessment about the reuse of crude oil from Brazilian waters' spill as an alternative fuel in cement kilns. The methodology is predominantly theoretical and bibliographical, since it is based on systematic bibliographic review focused on official reports and secondary data. The first stage of this study involved the identification of the primary data related to crude oil information of the Brazilian Institute of Environment and Renewable Natural Resources (IBAMA) that was accessed based on the Information Act (Law No.12527). In addition, a secondary data was obtained from external access to scientific papers from Science Direct database. In this case study, it was observed that the reuse of the crude from the oil spill as a fuel shows to be a promising application of waste recovery technology for energy purposes in cement industries due to its ability to reuse the amount of oil that would previously be disposed of in landfill, very probably without recycling and treatment. 

Keywords: oil spill, Brazilian coast, cement industry, energy recovery, alternative fuel.

9th International Congress on Environmental Geotechnics (ICEG2023)

Case Histories