Marine oil spill clean-up: A review on technologies with recent trends and challenges

Crude oil leakage occurs frequently during exploration, storage, transportation, production, and consumption. The spilling of crude oil has the potential to contaminate the ocean, soil, and groundwater. Oil spills during oil extraction and transportation, such as from drilling wells, rigs, transport tanks, and pipelines, are an important cause of extensive environmental damage because they significantly decrease the diversity of aquatic life and disrupt the biological equilibrium of the ocean. It also damages the world's energy economy. Cleaning crude oil spills from marine or ocean environments is a highly challenging task because of the spilt oil's properties and limited mobility to the accidental site. This article focuses primarily on the various technologies used in the cleanup of oil spillage in marine or ocean environments, as well as their recent trends and challenges. This research work begins with a discussion of the historical events and the primary roots of oil spills, the composition of the spilt oil, the effects they have on the surrounding environment, the governmental rules for oil spills, and methods for cleaning up marine oil spills such as physical, thermal, biological, and chemical are briefly covered along with their benefits and drawbacks. This work discusses the software and artificial intelligence-related technologies prevailing for oil spill modelling and their current limitations. •A summary of oil spill events and their impacts on environmental damage.•Oil spill clean-up methods: physical, thermal, biological, and chemical techniques.•Pros and Cons of different clean-up methods.•Simulation software, remote sensing methods and artificial intelligence tools for spill prediction and response.•Governmental regulations and policies for oil spill management.