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PERFORMANCE TESTING OF OIL MOP ZERO RELATIVE VELOCITY OIL SKIMMER
Citation:
Breslin, M. PERFORMANCE TESTING OF OIL MOP ZERO RELATIVE VELOCITY OIL SKIMMER. U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Washington, D.C., EPA/600/7-78/060.
Description:
A fast current (operating range up to 3 m/s (6 kts)), prototype skimmer was designed and built by OMI and delivered to the Oil and Hazardous Materials Simulated Environmental Test Tank (OHMSETT) to be tested. The principle of operation was based on adsorbing oil onto oleophilic fibers woven into a rope. The rope and fibers were then squeezed by wringers to remove the oil into a recovery basin. The device was rigged, trimmed and then towed into a controlled oil slick while being operated and monitored for oil recovery. Device operating speed, oil slick thickness, tow speed, and wave conditions served as controlled independent variables. The fluid recovered was sampled during and after the test run to determine device performance. Because of adverse weather and problems with the device, the testing program was of short duration. Only a few tests were run, so parameters could not be completely optimized.