From Ecopedia

Overview

Oil is any unctuous combustible viscous or slippery liquid, which is immiscible with water. Oils, liquefiable at ordinary room temperatures, are soluble in a several organic solvents including ether.

Oils are of vegetable, mineral or animal origin with varied compositions. All oils, however, are organic-based liquids.^{[1] [2] [3]}

Oils are commonly classified into the following categories:

Essential oils: concentrated hydrophobic oils made up of volatile aroma composites of plants, which are usually extracted by distillation process. Used in cosmetics, perfumes or food and drink flavorings

Mineral oils: originating from organic sources such as dead planktons and derived from various geologic locations underneath the earth using various geochemical processes. Examples include petroleum and petroleum-based oils including paraffin waxes, diesel, gasoline and kerosene.

Organic oils: produced by animals, plants and various other organisms using organic processes.

Synthetic oils: synthetic lubricants made up of chemical compounds synthesized from non-crude oil compounds.

Oils are variously used as fuel, food, lubricants and haircare products. Oils are also commonly used in electricity generation using steam engines. ^[4]

Environmental Impacts

Environmental impacts of oil usage include impact from oil drilling, pumping, refining and transportation among other things.

Oil industry precipitates serious environmental hazards during oil production and refining process. Land use, air and groundwater pollution and waste management are some of the impacts of oil production, refining and transportation.

Contributes to Greenhouse Effect

During oil production and refinement, in addition to several waste materials, certain harmful gases including carbon dioxide (CO2) are produced in significant numbers leading to the environmentally hazardous greenhouse effect. Greenhouse effect is the main cause of global warming experienced across the world.

Oil combustion by end users also produces significant amounts of carbon dioxide, adding further to the greenhouse impact. ^[5]

Acid Rains

Oil combustion, releases small amounts of sulfur, which combines with the atmospheric oxygen to produce sulfur dioxide gas, a chief contributor to the environmentally-hazardous acid rains. ^[6]

Oil spills

Accidents during oil transportation such as oil spills lead to major ecological damages. Oil spills are human-induced liquid petroleum hydrocarbon releases in to the environment. Oil spills are a form of pollution and are commonly referred to marine spills of oil.

Some of the most common causes for oil spills include crude oil, gasoline or diesel fuel leaks or spills of various by-products, oil refuse, ships’ bunkers, oil in waste and also natural oil seeps.

Such spills, when released into oceans or coastal waters, cause marine pollution, which generally take several months or years to clear up. ^[7]

Marine pollution caused due to oil spills is shown to cause significant harm to the wildlife in general. According to the U.S. Environmental protection Agency (EPA), most of the biological communities are highly susceptible to oil spill effects.

The US EPS opines that a large variety of kelp beds in oceans, land plants, marsh grasses in different estuaries, microscopic organisms, fish, reptiles, amphibians, mammals, birds and other larger animals are subject to serious environmental hazards due to spilled oil.

Oil spills, especially endanger the health of various marine mammals and seabirds through physical contact, when feathers or fur come in physical contact with oil and toxic contamination, when the sea animals inhale or ingest the spilled oil. ^[8]

References

1. ↑ http://www.google.co.in/search?hl=en&client=firefox-a&hs=U27&rls=org.mozilla:en-US:official&channel=s&defl=en&q=define:oil&ei=kb3PS-6aD8e_rAeIn6zQCw&sa=X&oi=glossary_definition&ct=title&ved=0CBgQkAE
2. ↑ http://www.thefreedictionary.com/oil
3. ↑ http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oil
4. ↑ http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oil
5. ↑ http://wiki.answers.com/Q/What_is_the_environmental_impact_of_using_oil
6. ↑ http://www.phyast.pitt.edu/~blc/book/chapter3.html
7. ↑ http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oil_spills
8. ↑ http://oils.gpa.unep.org/facts/wildlife.htm