Naphthenic acid agents, thickening agent of napalm and oil drying agents used in painting and wood surface treatment. Industrially useful naphthenates include those of aluminium, magnesium, calcium, barium, cobalt, copper, lead, manganese, nickel, vanadium, and zinc. One oft-cited study stated that "naphthenic acids are the most significant environmental contaminants resulting from petroleum extraction from oil sands deposits." However "under worst-case exposure conditions, acute toxicity is unlikely in wild mammals exposed to naphthenic acids in AOS tailings pond water, but repeated exposure may have adverse health effects." Naphthenic acids are present in Athabasca oil sands (AOL) tailings pond water (TPW) at an estimated
Naphthenic acid commercial recovery. Using Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development [OECD] protocols for testing toxicity, McKee et al. (2014) argued that based on their studies refined NAs when consumed orally were not acutely genotoxic to mammals. However, damage induced by NAs while transient in acute or discontinuous exposure, may be cumulative in repeated exposure. Naphthenic acid is removed from petroleum fractions not only to minimize corrosion but also to recover commercially useful products. The greatest current and historical usage of naphthenic acid is in metal naphthenates. Naphthenic acids are recovered from petroleum distillates by alkaline extraction and then regenerated via an