In situ burning via towed boom of oil spilled at sea

Operational guidance for the efficient use of combustion in the cleanup of a surface oil film, formed as a result of a marine spill, is sought by approximate analysis. In remediation by burning, the spilled oil itself provides the energy for its cleanup. Attention is focused on situations holding relatively far from the source of the spill and/or relatively long after the spill: the oil is taken to have so dispersed that the thickness of the oil film is on the order of a few mm. Under such conditions, the oil film is unlikely to burn without the use of multiple towed booms, each boom spreading its already-ignited, localized fire to continuously-collected, previously unignited portions of the oil film. A simple, quasisteady, 2-dimensional analysis suggests efficient values for the tow speed and towline length as functions of such parameters as oil density, oil film thickness, and oil burn/evaporation rate. The analysis leads to specific suggestions for apparently unreported laboratory experiments that may be informative prior to at-sea operation. 22 refs., 12 figs