1 Department of Building, Civil and Environmental Engineering, Concordia University, Montreal, H3G 1M8, Canada.
2 Department of Building, Civil and Environmental Engineering, Concordia University, Montreal, H3G 1M8, Canada. chunjiang.an@concordia.ca.
3 Research Centre for High Performance Polymer and Composite Systems (CREPEC), Department of Chemical Engineering, Polytechnique Montreal, Montreal, H3C 3A7, Canada.
4 Fisheries and Oceans Canada, Ecosystem Science, Ottawa, K1A 0E6, Canada.
5 Institute of Energy, Peking University, Beijing, 100871, China.

When oil is released into the oceans, spilled oil may get to the shoreline driven by wind and wave. This study comprehensively explored the effects of bentonite nanoclay on the oil behaviors in a water-sand system from both experimental and modeling perspectives. Four factors including nanoclay concentration, temperature, salinity, and pH have been studied. The increasing nanoclay concentration resulted in the decrease in remaining oil on sand. Higher temperature and salinity were associated with less residual oil on sand in the presence of nanoclay. The lower residual oil on sand with coexisting nanoclay was found to be at pH 7. The factorial analysis results indicated that the nanoclay concentration showed the most significant impact among these factors. Miscibility modeling results showed an increasing temperature was favorable to the nanoclay miscibility. Moreover, the effect of nanoclay on oil behavior was further revealed through the dynamic simulation, in which it can be seen the nanoclay could penetrate into oil droplets and promote the oil detachment from solid substrate. The results of this study can help understand the role of fine particles in the fate and transport of oil on shoreline and support the risk assessment and response planning after oil spill.