Evaluation of Four Oil Spill Recovery Systems in Fast Water Conditions at Ohmsett
Abstract
Even though 70 percent of the oils transported on U.S. waterways are in currents that routinely exceed one knot, very little research and product development has been conducted on new technologies and strategies to respond to oil spills occurring in currents over one knot. Oil spills in fast moving water (one to five knots) are hard to control and recover due to the ease at which oil mixes with water and entrains under booms and skimmers. Fast currents also make it difficult to deploy equipment and maneuver on the water. A lack of effective fast water containment and recovery systems, anchoring problems, and limited training and experience in these difficult and dangerous response conditions have hampered response efforts in currents on rivers and coastal areas. The Coast Guard R and D Center is executing the project, "Innovative Response Techniques (Fast Water Containment)." The goal of this effort is to improve the United States Coast Guard's (USCG) fast-water containment and recovery capabilities by identifying and testing the most promising equipment. The goal of this part of the project was to measure the performance of oil spill recovery systems that would potentially be effective in fast moving water conditions of one to five knots. The specific objectives of this test series were to develop a testing protocol for fast water equipment evaluation, define the operational capabilities of four recovery systems, and aid in improving the performance of the systems. Four systems that were identified in a previous report (Coe and Gurr, 1999) were evaluated in both calm and harbor chop wave conditions while encountering both light and heavy viscosity oils. Each system was operated as specified by the manufacturer or their representative. Two of these systems can recover oil efficiently in calm water up to three knots and in harbor chop waves up to two knots. The other systems performed well up to three knots in calm water. This equipment should improve the recovery.
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- Dec 01, 2000
- Accession Number
- AD1210542
Entities
People
- David Devitis
- Kathleen Nolan
- Kurt Hansen