ANALYSIS ON OIL REMOVING MECHANISM FROM WATER (original) (raw)

Worldwide statistics on oil spills show that the incidence of major oil spills has significantly fallen over the last three decades. However, environmental awareness and sensitivity to the impact of oil spills have grown at an even quicker pace over the same period.The prime focus of oil spill response activities is in prevention and planning. This is achieved through well-designed equipment, good maintenance and operating procedures, sound training techniques and a high degree of awareness and concern at all levels by employees and management. Despite best prevention practices an incident may occur. In the event of an incident the objective of the oil spill response is to assure that actions are efficient and compatible with the balanced environmental, social, and economic needs of the community. The response strategy includes all viable techniques to reduce damage from a spill. No oil spill response option would be ruled out or limited in advance.There is no doubt, therefore, that continued investment in preventive measures and emergency response capabilities is justified. A number of advanced response mechanisms are available for controlling oil spills and minimizing their impacts on human health and the environment. The key to effectively combating spills is careful selection and proper use of the equipment and materials best suited to the type of oil and the conditions at the spill site. Most spill response equipment and materials are greatly affected by such factors as conditions at sea, water currents and wind. Gauging the performance of oil spill response equipment has long been of interest for government regulators, oil spill responders and the oil industry. 1. INDRODUCTION The considerable increase of oil exploration and transport in Arctic waters will increase the risk of an oil spill occurring in cold and ice-infested waters. Currently, mechanical oil spill recovery in cold climates is inefficient largely due to the fact that the equipment available to oil spill responders was not designed to collect very viscous oils and oil-ice mixtures. The presence of ice crystals in oil emulsions affects the adhesion processes between an oil slick and the surface of an oleophilic skimmer and prevents oil from being efficiently recovered. Oil spill responders have used weir type skimmers and large vacuum hoses to suck in oil-ice mixture, resulting in a significant amount of free water in the recovered product, reducing oil spill recovery efficiency and creating a discharge problem. Oleophilic skimmers are based on the adhesion of oil to the rotating skimmer surface. The rotating surface lifts the oil out of the water to an oil removal device