Performance evaluation of a Soviet oil skimmer was conducted at the United States Environmental Protection Agency's Oil and Hazardous Materials Simulated Environmental Test Tank in 1979. The skimmer was provided by the Black Sea Central Planning and Designing Bureau, Odessa. The test program was designed at OHMSETT to evaluate the oil skimming capability of a specially modified Soviet skimmer, Model 2550/4. The self-propelled vessel is 17.7 meters long and weighs 39 metric tons. The 111 kilowatt diesel engine drives a ducted propeller water jet propulsion system. The vessel is capable of five knots forward speed and skims effectively at speeds from zero to two knots. The unique combination of various weir designs into one system, vessel mobility, the efficient use of energy, a series type oil/water gravity separator, and the propulsion techniques all suggest it to be an effective harbor skimmer. The oil recovery rate of 12.4 cubic meters per hour was confirmed using OHMSETT heavy test oil (1.5 pascal seconds and 0.95 specific gravity) in calm water conditions. Recovery efficiency was 85 percent at 1.5 knots forward speed and throughput efficiency was 90 percent at one knot forward speed. Performance dropped for skimming light oils at faster speeds and higher wave conditions. The skimmer collected 64 percent of the 81.3 cubic meters oil volume encountered during the test program.

Project officer: John S. Farlow. Contract no. 68-03-2642. Photocopy.