ABSTRACT
The discussion in this chapter focuses primarily on burning of oil on water. Burning of oil on shorelines and land is discussed briefly in Chapters 11 and 12.
Advantages
Burning has some advantages over other spill cleanup techniques, the most significant of which is its capacity to rapidly remove large amounts of oil. When used at the right time, i.e., early in the spill before the oil weathers and loses its highly flammable components, and under the right conditions,
in-situ
burning can be very effective at rapidly eliminating large amounts of spilled oil, especially from water. This can prevent oil from spreading to other areas and contaminating shorelines and biota.
