Mechanical collection of surface oil treated with dispersing agents

The purpose of the project described in this report was to investigate whether treating surface oil with dispersing agents affected the efficiency of skimmers. The project included small-scale experiments and meso-scale basin studies. The results are: (1) Dispersing agents did not reduce the adsorption of the oil to the skimmer materials. (2) Using dispersing agents on high-viscosity emulsions either increased or did not affect the efficiency of the Komara Mini Disk skimmer. On low-viscosity emulsions, however, the efficiency was reduced. (3) The maximum collection rate of this skimmer was 1.8 m3/h for the viscosity range of 3000-4000 cP. The rate of collection would probably be different for other skimmer types. (4) When a dispersion agent was applied to a bunker oil emulsion, no reduction in water content was observed parallel to the reduction of viscosity. Such a reduction would have taken place with a crude oil emulsion. For water-free oil, this would have improved the collection, even if the collection of emulsion was reduced. 17 refs., 11 figs., 4 tabs