GB2482470A

GB2482470A - Underwater oil storage system

Info

Publication number: GB2482470A
Application number: GB201010153A
Authority: GB
Inventors: Dominic Michaelis
Original assignee: Individual
Current assignee: Individual
Priority date: 2010-06-17
Filing date: 2010-06-17
Publication date: 2012-02-08
Also published as: GB201010153D0

Abstract

Oil storage tanks 2 collect oil which has been diverted from a riser 14. The storage containers 2 can be on the seabed or float below the surface. A pump 8 is used for filling the tanks with oil from the riser. The storage may be formed from a collection of tubes secured together, some of which may be filled with air for buoyancy 3. The tanks can initially be filled with seawater which is expelled by a piston being moved as the tanks are filled with oil. The tanks can be used to store oil when the weather prevents surface vessels from collecting oil at the top of the riser.

Description

DESCRIPTION

Underwater Oil Storage Device This invention relates to a submerged oil spill recovery storage device.

According to the present invention, there is provided an underwater oil storage device, such that, when there is an accident requiring oil to be recovered from a spill from an oil rig or sunken tanker, or any other situation, and this occurs in areas subject to cyclones and hurricanes, to prevent continued spillage into the sea whilst oil recovery ships have to leave the area temporarily whilst the dangerous weather conditions pass by, recovered oil that may be gushing out and is being recovered by an oil recovery device and attached riser pipe normally discharging its recovered oil into surface tankers or dracone barges, can be diverted at a sufficient depth below sea level to avoid most severe surface weather conditions towards an underwater oil storage device, also protected by being at a sufficient depth underwater, so that the riser pipe is fitted with a diversion pipe leading to a submerged pump activated by a generator and a linked fuel supply device, the pump pulling up the oil instead of the surface pumps, and pumping it in to one or a number of containers designed to accumulate the pumped oil during the time the surface ships have to be away from the spill site, such time being a few days or a couple of weeks, the said containers varying from rubber or neoprene bladders or dracones to assemblies of large diameter tubes, these being tied together along their length to form triangular or circular geometries, the tubular assemblies being designed to incorporate buoyant members so that they exert an upward force on mooring cables and are thus prevented from moving out of position, the diverted pipe filling the tubes either sequentially, when the tubes are in a triangular array, the diverted pipe being manifolded, filling first the bottom tubes and then the middle tubes, the top tube being filled with rigid foam resisting crushing forces, partly filled with air and forming the flotation buoy, or the triangular array being filled as one unit by the manifold, the tubes, initially filled with seawater, being fitted on the inside with a sphere or piston such that the oil being pumped into the tube displacing the piston or sphere pushing the seawater out through a hole provided at its opposite end, the hole being closed by the piston or sphere when the tube is full of oil, in another embodiment all tubes being linked together so that they can be filled from a single filler pipe, the volume of the tubes being calculated to store the recovered oil during the passage of the cyclone or hurricane, or clean up operation, which is so not spilt into the sea and is easily pumped out of the tubular array into recovery tankers, the recovery oil storage device being possibly also located on the sea floor, where it does not need to be intricately moored.

A specific embodiment of the invention will now be described by way of example with reference to the accompanying drawing in which:-Figure 1 shows the recovered underwater oil storage device, with a diverted upriser pipe from a seabed recovery dome from.

Referring to Figure 1, an underwater oil storage device, 1, is shown floating between the sea floor, 21, and the sea surface, 22, the device made up of a number of typical large diameter tubes, 2, with hemispherical ends, with openings at both extremities, and a piston or sphere initially positioned at the oil entry end, the rest of the tube filled with seawater, except for the top buoyancy tube, 3, which is designed to contain some air within a rigid foam or aerated material preventing deformation or crushing of the buoyancy tube, all the tubes held together by straps, 4 or other fixing systems, the device being moored to the sea floor by mooring lines, 11, keeping it in place, so that the oil recovery riser pipe, 12, coming from the oil recovery dome, 16, can, when it reaches the level of the base of the device, 1, be provided with a floating platform, 13, on which are positioned a submerged electrical pump, 8, its electric generator, 9, and fuel tank, 10, that pumps the oil up from the depths, taking over from tanker based surface pumps, its flow redirected by a diversion valve, 7, to a flexible diversion tube, 6, directing the flow to a manifold feeder, 5, which takes the oil to every tube, except the top buoyancy tube.

From the diversion valve, 7, a temporarily unused flexible riser pipe, 14, connects the platform facilities to a surface buoy, 15, designed to submerge in heavy weather conditions.

The manifold feeder system, 5, brings the pressurised oil to the tubes, 2, and fills them with oil, thus displacing the pistons or spheres until they reach the opposite end of each tube, expelling entrained seawater, and then sealing its end, encapsulating the oil. The tubes can be filled by the manifold either sequentially, or all together, depending on recovery preferences.

The recovered oil storage device can either be floating below the sea level, such as it is out of reach of extreme weather conditions encountered during cyclones or hurricanes, or can be located on the sea bed, when this is not too deep for the low temperatures to affect the handling capacities of the recovered oil.

Such recovered oil storage devices can also be used in fair weather conditions, located at tactical points to be served by oil recovery and mopping-up craft operating around them, and can form an essential part of any oil spill clean up operation.

Claims

CLAIMSUnderwater Oil Storage Device I An underwater oil storage device, such that, when there is an accident requiring oil to be recovered from a spill from an oil rig or sunken tanker, or any other situation, and this occurs in areas subject to cyclones and hurricanes, to prevent continued spillage into the sea whilst oil recovery ships have to leave the area temporarily whilst the dangerous weather conditions pass by, recovered oil that may be gushing out and is being recovered by an oil recovery device and attached riser pipe normally discharging its recovered oil into surface tankers or dracone barges, can be diverted at a sufficient depth below sea level to avoid most severe surface weather conditions towards an underwater oil storage device, also protected by being at a sufficient depth underwater, so that the riser pipe is fitted with a diversion pipe leading to a submerged pump activated by a generator and a linked fuel supply device, the pump pulling up the oil instead of the surface pumps, and pumping it in to one or a number of containers designed to accumulate the pumped oil during the time the surface ships have to be away from the spill site, such time being a few days or a couple of weeks, the said containers varying from rubber or neoprene bladders or dracones to assemblies of large diameter tubes, these being tied together along their length to form triangular or circular geometries, the tubular assemblies being designed to incorporate buoyant members so that they exert an upward force on mooring cables and are thus prevented from moving out of position, the diverted pipe filling the tubes either sequentially, when the tubes are in a triangular array, the diverted pipe being man ifolded, filling first the bottom tubes and then the middle tubes, the top tube being filled with rigid foam resisting crushing forces, partly filled with air and forming the flotation buoy, or the triangular array being filled as one unit by the manifold, the tubes, initially filled with seawater, being fitted on the inside with a sphere or piston such that the oil being pumped into the tube displacing the piston or sphere pushing the seawater out through a hole provided at its opposite end, the hole being closed by the piston or sphere when the tube is full of oil, in another embodiment all tubes being linked together so that they can be filled from a single filler pipe, the volume of the tubes being calculated to store the recovered oil during the passage of the cyclone or hurricane, or clean up operation, which is so not spilt into the sea and is easily pumped out of the tubular array into recovery tankers, the recovery oil storage device being possibly also located on the sea floor, where it does not need to be intricately moored.
2 An underwater oil storage device, as claimed in Claim 1, as described above, but located on the sea bed, either with a recovery oil filler pipe from a nearby oil spill, using a submerged service platform, or out of cyclone or hurricane waters, a linked craft above it to pump the oil in and out of it, being used also in clean up operations as a central oil recovery store for smaller clean up craft to bring in their recovered oil, or oil and seawater mix, particularly useful in shallower waters where large craft cannot operate, and where the spilt oil tends to gather.
3 An underwater oil storage device, as claimed in claims I and 2, destined to recover oil mixed with detergents and seawater, the tubes being fitted at their entrance with filters to separate oil from water and detergents, these being directed to parallel tubes.
4 An underwater oil storage device, as claimed in claims 1, 2, and 3, designed to recover other chemical pollutants that can be part of a spill.A oil storage device that can be used on land to store and control flows of oil or other liquids.An underwater oil storage substantially as described herein with 6 reference to figure 1 of the accompanying drawing.