Oil spill incidents frequently cause serious impacts on the ecosystem, society, and economy. To cope with this problem, the use of phase-selective organogelators (PSOGs) has been developed in recent years as a promising oil spill response tool, which can congeal oils from biphasic systems, accelerating oil removal and recovery and reducing impacts on the environment. This article systematically reviews reported technologies for the use of PSOGs for potential oil spill remediation in the literature from January 2016 to May 2022. It discusses several kinds of PSOGs based on molecular structures which are possible for gelling oil in the presence of water/seawater. Their mechanisms for phase-selective gelation are summarized, including hydrogen bonding, π–π stacking interactions, van der Waals force, hydrophobic interactions, etc. The currently possible deployment methods for the application of PSOGs are explored; carrier solvents and powder form are frequently used. Moreover, the challenges and the corresponding recommendations regarding standardized testing protocols and evaluation framework, gelation selectivity, as well as challenges in field tests, are further discussed.

This study presents a new implementation of a population balance model (VDROP) coupled with computational fluid dynamics (CFD) to predict oil droplet breakup and transport, ensuring boundedness and broad applicability. The model is validated against experimental data for two cases with flow rates of 5 and 10 L/min (LPM). The simulations capture key hydrodynamic features of jet and plume development. As the flow rate increases, the flow transitions from laminar to turbulent, leading to enhanced entrainment, a shorter potential core, and a lower virtual origin. The predicted centerline velocity agrees well with classical theory, and the plume shape matches experimental observations and previous studies. Tank wall effects are reproduced, including downward flow and self-similarity deviations. The droplet size distribution (DSD) is well reproduced with calibrated Kb using both single-size and linear initial droplet size distribution. Along the centerline, the DSD converges beyond 50D due to reduced turbulent dissipation, while radially, smaller droplets dominate away from the centerline due to stronger diffusion. VDROP-J can also reproduce the experimental DSD, but requires a significantly smaller Kb due to simplified hydrodynamics and neglect of droplet diffusion. Overall, the framework provides a robust and physically consistent tool for simulating oil droplet breakup and transport.