WO2011138583A1 - Procédé de récupération de déversements de pétrole - Google Patents

Procédé de récupération de déversements de pétrole Download PDF

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Publication number
WO2011138583A1
WO2011138583A1 PCT/GB2011/000684 GB2011000684W WO2011138583A1 WO 2011138583 A1 WO2011138583 A1 WO 2011138583A1 GB 2011000684 W GB2011000684 W GB 2011000684W WO 2011138583 A1 WO2011138583 A1 WO 2011138583A1
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WO
WIPO (PCT)
Prior art keywords
oil
web
oil composition
resilient
coated
Prior art date
Application number
PCT/GB2011/000684
Other languages
English (en)
Inventor
George Lyall Walker
Original Assignee
George Lyall Walker
Priority date (The priority date is an assumption and is not a legal conclusion. Google has not performed a legal analysis and makes no representation as to the accuracy of the date listed.)
Filing date
Publication date
Priority claimed from GBGB1007532.3A external-priority patent/GB201007532D0/en
Priority claimed from GBGB1009254.2A external-priority patent/GB201009254D0/en
Priority claimed from GBGB1009930.7A external-priority patent/GB201009930D0/en
Application filed by George Lyall Walker filed Critical George Lyall Walker
Priority to GB1221823.6A priority Critical patent/GB2498625B/en
Publication of WO2011138583A1 publication Critical patent/WO2011138583A1/fr

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Classifications

    • E—FIXED CONSTRUCTIONS
    • E02—HYDRAULIC ENGINEERING; FOUNDATIONS; SOIL SHIFTING
    • E02B—HYDRAULIC ENGINEERING
    • E02B15/00—Cleaning or keeping clear the surface of open water; Apparatus therefor
    • E02B15/04—Devices for cleaning or keeping clear the surface of open water from oil or like floating materials by separating or removing these materials
    • E—FIXED CONSTRUCTIONS
    • E02—HYDRAULIC ENGINEERING; FOUNDATIONS; SOIL SHIFTING
    • E02B—HYDRAULIC ENGINEERING
    • E02B15/00—Cleaning or keeping clear the surface of open water; Apparatus therefor
    • E02B15/04—Devices for cleaning or keeping clear the surface of open water from oil or like floating materials by separating or removing these materials
    • E02B15/06—Barriers therefor construed for applying processing agents or for collecting pollutants, e.g. absorbent
    • E—FIXED CONSTRUCTIONS
    • E02—HYDRAULIC ENGINEERING; FOUNDATIONS; SOIL SHIFTING
    • E02B—HYDRAULIC ENGINEERING
    • E02B15/00—Cleaning or keeping clear the surface of open water; Apparatus therefor
    • E02B15/04—Devices for cleaning or keeping clear the surface of open water from oil or like floating materials by separating or removing these materials
    • E02B15/10—Devices for removing the material from the surface
    • E—FIXED CONSTRUCTIONS
    • E02—HYDRAULIC ENGINEERING; FOUNDATIONS; SOIL SHIFTING
    • E02B—HYDRAULIC ENGINEERING
    • E02B15/00—Cleaning or keeping clear the surface of open water; Apparatus therefor
    • E02B15/04—Devices for cleaning or keeping clear the surface of open water from oil or like floating materials by separating or removing these materials
    • E02B15/10—Devices for removing the material from the surface
    • E02B15/102—Discs
    • Y—GENERAL TAGGING OF NEW TECHNOLOGICAL DEVELOPMENTS; GENERAL TAGGING OF CROSS-SECTIONAL TECHNOLOGIES SPANNING OVER SEVERAL SECTIONS OF THE IPC; TECHNICAL SUBJECTS COVERED BY FORMER USPC CROSS-REFERENCE ART COLLECTIONS [XRACs] AND DIGESTS
    • Y02—TECHNOLOGIES OR APPLICATIONS FOR MITIGATION OR ADAPTATION AGAINST CLIMATE CHANGE
    • Y02A—TECHNOLOGIES FOR ADAPTATION TO CLIMATE CHANGE
    • Y02A20/00—Water conservation; Efficient water supply; Efficient water use
    • Y02A20/20—Controlling water pollution; Waste water treatment
    • Y02A20/204—Keeping clear the surface of open water from oil spills

Definitions

  • This invention relates to spilled oil recovery, in particular of crude oil compositions, by using resilient, high-void, colour-coated, oleophilic nonwoven webs as temporary
  • Spilled oil compositions are difficult to handle at sea and on land.
  • An initial oil slick is a mobile liquid with relatively low cohesivity. It readily divides into sections, dispersing with wind, current and wave action. Normally the initial composition will float on water. Mixed with, say, sand, the oil composition can become heavier and then become buoyant in a water column. When engaged with more, say, sand, it might sink to the seabed.
  • oil compositions are always oleophilic in nature and composed of various components.
  • the mixtures can be petroleum oil compositions (such as pure crude oil, crude oil mousses and refined petroleum fractions), vegetable oil compositions, vegetable oil composition mousses, and other oleophilic liquid blend compositions.
  • These spilled oil compositions can include extraneous solid matter such as geological debris, perhaps sand or clay particles, or biological debris, perhaps plant matter.
  • the compositions can be termed "oil sludges" because of their appearance and changing composition.
  • composition of oil compositions can have a major influence on the extent of coastal impact, oil persistence and ease of cleanup.
  • Evaporable fuels tend to be more toxic, penetrating the shoreline sediments to a greater degree.
  • Heavy crude and similar oil compositions are reportedly less poisonous to coastal ecosystems. With high bitumen content, they do not penetrate the fine sediments so readily but are persistent, difficult to remove and can smother shoreline organisms.
  • Deposits of oil composition are usually individual "islands" of various sizes. On coasts, the oil can be propelled and lifted by tidal action to be dumped on the shore.
  • Shorelines have different characteristics. They have been classified as exposed rocky cliffs & seawalls; wave- cut rocky platforms; fine to medium-grained sand beaches; coarse-grained sand beaches; mixed sand and gravel beaches; gravel beaches; exposed tidal flats; sheltered rocky shores; engineered constructions; sheltered tidal flats; and marshes. In sensitive ecosystems, great care has to be taken to ensure that the method and degree of cleaning does not generate problems for the future. Surfactants are sometimes used to disperse rather than remove the oil but there remain concerns about the immediate and long-term toxicities of the oil
  • composition and the dispersant are composition and the dispersant.
  • a range of remediation techniques is currently available. These include manual removal of the dispersed oil composition such as with cloths or shovels, mechanical removal of the composition with scoops, absorption with absorbents, vacuuming, surface skimming, sediment reworking, vegetation cutting, flushing by flooding or water washing (low to high pressure, hot or cold), slurry sand blasting, use of solidifiers, use of shoreline cleaning agents, use of nutrient enricher, burning or allowing natural processes.
  • JP 7238448 (A) describes the use of nonwoven webs.
  • Non- woven materials associated with foam compositions are disclosed in JP 10057806 (A) and DE 3145547 (Al).
  • WO 2004050267 (Al) describes recycled solid waste matter comprising paper for gathering up spilled crude oil.
  • US 5575586 (A) discloses the rocket deployment of a cover over an oil spill for its collection.
  • US 5769777 (A) discloses fly ash to absorb oil.
  • DE 10334967 (Al) discloses a floating resilient, high-loft mat with a net sheath of wood fibres to absorb oil floating on water.
  • DE 10140909 (Al) discloses an oil trap comprising a feather-filled bag linked to buoyancy bags.
  • EP 0357239 discloses the recovering sticky tar or oil from water or sand by using an open metal mesh conveyor: the recovered tar is subjected to intense heating for removal from the mesh.
  • US 6332737 discloses a hydrocarbon-absorbent sock boom.
  • US 5102261 discloses a floating boom for oil, having a geosynthetic fabric curtain.
  • DE 3148613 discloses funnel effect device to remove a medium floating on sea.
  • WO 2009036959 discloses an oil barrier for water, comprising oil-bound mineral wool.
  • US 5965030 discloses the removal of spilled oil from water by a resilient, high-loft mat, a nonwoven fabric, having an absorbant foam coating.
  • WO 960321 1 discloses a mat of at least one layer of a nonwoven natural-fibre laminar web attached to a nonwoven synthetic fibrous laminar web. The mat is impregnated with a polymeric emulsion.
  • EP 0582172 (Al) discloses absorbing oil contaminating an aqueous environment using a plurality of sheets of nonwoven oleophilic fibres arranged in superposition.
  • FR 2689446 discloses a composite of a layer of absorbent and gelling powder enclosed between two nonwoven sheets of natural or synthetic fibres including a rubberised binder, an upper permeable sheet and a lower watertight sheet.
  • JP 4216929 (A) discloses a resilient, high-loft mat for controlling environmental pollution at the time of construction of a hydraulic power industry basin.
  • CA 1322965 (C) discloses filtering and removing contaminants from fluids with at least two pad layers of a permeable, nonwoven polymer material.
  • EP 0295911 (A2) discloses an oil- absorbing article comprising a porous outer fabric which encloses fibrous oil-absorbing particles.
  • DE 3305223 discloses soaking up oil on water by a resilient, high-loft mat which is produced from tear-resistant woven fabric or nonwoven filter cloth and contains expanded clay or peat litter.
  • EP 0017786 discloses, for stemming spilled crude oil, a continuous foam line of open-pored non-rigid foamed plastic, produced in a nonwoven and around a nonwoven apron.
  • WO 2004076750 discloses a machine for removing floating tar or crude oil from the surface of water.
  • US 5200083 describes a drum skimmer having a surface of a mat of nonwoven oil avid fibres, coated with a non-crosslinked rubber composition.
  • US 3764527 discloses a method of separating oil from water using an oleophilic fibrous web.
  • US 5165821 (A) discloses an oil-sorbing boom with a spirally wound sheet of polymeric, oleophilic microfibres on a buoyant inner core, this extending to the depending skirt.
  • Absorbant "socks” or "pom-poms" of melt-blown polypropylene are widely available for oil spill recovery. Oil skimmers with weir collectors, polypropylene ropes, metal discs, metal drums, fibre covered drums or plastic brushes have been used. Many of the methods have relied on the affinity of thermoplastics such as polypropylene to act as sorbents for spilled oil.
  • Any new method is desirably environmentally gentle in operation, by not leaving a harmful environmental "footprint" of, say, an immediate or long-term toxicity trail. Nor should it cause undue environmental disturbance of the marine or land habitat where the spilled oil is present. It is highly desirable that collected oil be suitable for refining to regain its economic value.
  • the material for picking up the oil be readily transportable, easy to use and repeatedly re-usable with the collected oil being recovered at a locally set-up station using relatively common facilities for the process. This would save undue transportation costs to distant recycling centres and long lead times to re-using the collector.
  • the coating is visually coloured by a colorant such as a pigment, for example to allow differently technical grades of resilient, coated web used in such oil recovery operations to be readily visually distinguishable from one another, in use.
  • a colorant such as a pigment
  • the invention is described mainly in the context of colour-coated webs, even though colorant can be omitted.
  • the interception process is repeated, continuously, at least ten times, in any clean-up task.
  • the web should preferably uptake a substantial quantity of oil during each interception cycle, at least 10% of the bulk volume of the web, and preferably at least 25%, 50% or 75%, if not 100% or more (allowing for some oil such as tar balls, to be intercepted externally to the uncompressed boundaries of the web).
  • the invention enables uncontained oil composition to be collected from a geologically open body of water such as ocean, sea, estuary, river, stream, canal, dock, harbour or reservoir in an elegant manner that mitigates many of the prior technical challenges.
  • a geologically open body of water such as ocean, sea, estuary, river, stream, canal, dock, harbour or reservoir in an elegant manner that mitigates many of the prior technical challenges.
  • the web gives a temporary sheet like structure to the oil mass, enabling its efficient handling.
  • a colour-coated web has a bulk specific gravity of 0.1, a width of 1 metre, a length of 10 metres, and a bulk thickness of 25mm.
  • the bulk (uncompressed) volume of this mat is 250 litres with the void volume for mobile oil interception being approximately 90% i.e. 225 litres.
  • Drawing this web through seawater having floating islands of bituminous crude oil composition present potentially allows 225 litres of oil composition nominally to be intercepted, assuming all voids are filled and no extra oil composition is on the surface.
  • the filtering action is relatively fast as water has a low viscosity and passes through the hydrophobic, oleophilic web more readily than does crude oil composition or crude oil mousses which are more likely to be retained.
  • this resilient web can be readily subjected high-pressure air or water jets to displace most or all of the 225 litres of oil composition that has been collected, so allowing the oil composition to be retained in a collecting receptacle. This does not add to waste as the oil is collected and the web is able to be re-used. By re-using the mat, 225 litres of oil composition is collected each time and accumulated in a holding vessel with other recovered portions.
  • the volume of oil composition that is recovered for later processing is 22,500 litres. If the recycling time for the web is six minutes, this collection takes ten hours. The web tends to filter out bulky matter when intercepting the oil so that the oil that is recovered is relatively free from debris. Additionally, the local disturbance to the medium supporting the oil is relatively less than, say, when oil is scooped (along with extraneous sand) from a beach by a mechanical shovel.
  • the same portion of colour-coated web can be repeatedly used or a plurality of webs of the same of differing grades used.
  • the technical nature of the web for use in the invention is described herein.
  • US 2958593 discloses low-density, resilient, non- woven, colour coated, abrasive web articles which are of the technical category for use in this new method of oil recovery.
  • the non- woven abrasive articles are made by having a high-loft fibrous structure of high-void volume and coating it with a crosslinking composition to lock crossing fibres together to provide, when cured, three-dimensional elastic resilience in the mat's structure.
  • Abrasive mineral naturally or synthetic
  • the abrasive articles there disclosed were for floor and kitchen surface scouring purposes.
  • Loose stable fibre is provided to the feed box of a "Rando Webber" machine which provides a uniform open web.
  • the web is sprayed with a crosslinkable resin and abrasive slurry such as flint fines, the slurry also containing a colouring pigment blend such as of titanium dioxide and raw sienna.
  • the coating is allowed to cure, making it resistant to oil and water.
  • the abrasive particles can be present but can also be omitted.
  • abrasive mineral particles can be of diamond, silicon carbide, aluminium oxide, flint, ceramics, quartz and such like.
  • the colouring pigments and abrasives can be added as a second spray or dip coating if necessary.
  • the colorants can be dyestuffs rather than pigments.
  • the basic fibres typically at least comprise filamentous polyamide (nylon), polyester or polycarbonate. Coloured resilient webs of this nature, when oleophilically and hydrophilically coated are suitable for repetitive oil collection.
  • the resilient structure resulting from the curing enables the material to be handled as a mat whereas unbonded nonwovens lack resilience and flop. Different thicknesses and bulk densities of fibres can be used when making these resilient webs.
  • the fibres of the web need not be entirely covered with the coloured coating, though the mat should be substantially coloured by the coating with at least 20% coverage of the coating, and preferably more than 50% and most preferably 90% or more. Local absence of coating potentially impedes the performance of the mat such as by losing any resilience.
  • Trade practice for making these surface abrasion materials is to use the coloration as a guide to the grade of the web, reflecting the fibre density and abrasive nature. Since the time of US2958593(A), many technical improvements have been made to this general technical category of web, details of which can be readily found by the skilled person in the patent and trade literature and are incorporated as prior art knowledge herein.
  • foam layers have been added to the web to provide a dual scouring and wiping facility such as in hand scourers.
  • the foam layers are not preferred for this application as the colour-coated web is highly preferably used alone (other than for associated attachments such as handles and supports). It is already known for such coloured pads adventitiously to contact small quantities of material which can be oily during floor cleaning or kitchen scouring applications, and for this material to be washed off when the pad is being cleaned for further floor cleaning use, for example by pressure jetting with waste water going to the drain. The washings are of no value.
  • the use for the web is different.
  • the scale of oil interception is different from what a floor or scouring pad would collect during intended use.
  • the oil interception process by the web is deliberate and at the heart of the method.
  • the new oil composition collection process is systematically repeated, reusing the cleaned, resilient mats and commonly working with a plurality of collecting mats used in parallel, leading to the bulk accumulation of oil for later processing to gain economic value from it as a valuable resource.
  • the amount of oil recovered by the new method can be as small as five kilogrammes for very small spillage applications, but can be tens or hundreds of kilogrammes or potentially many metric tonnes, tens of metric tonnes or hundreds of metric tonnes for larger scale petroleum oil composition or vegetable oil composition spillages such as at sea.
  • the method can be used on land adjacent to oil transporting pipelines which might leak due to corrosion or external impact.
  • Distinction is drawn over US3764527 (A) which discloses a method of separating oil from water.
  • the prior disclosure is mainly aimed at separating lard, etc., in kitchen waste, using uncoated nonwoven fibres.
  • the use of polyethylene and polypropylene is stated to b e preferred, where the wetting angle between the solid fibre and water is of fundamental importance.
  • the approach for the invention as disclosed in this Application is different as the base fibres are not essentially contacted with the oil because of the presence of the coating.
  • the prior art method does not imply or suggest the use of plain or colour-coated fibrous webs for oil spill recovery. Rather such new use would appear contra-indicated by the disclosure.
  • Colour-coated abrasive pads of this kind for floor and other surface finishing are made by various companies such as 3M Company, Americo Manufacturing Company Incorporated, Norton Abrasives, all of the USA and Freudenberg Nonwovens of Germany.
  • 3M Company makes floor pads in various colours such as Black, Brown, Green and Blue, which it sells under its Scotchbrite brand: it sells mops which have coloured resilient pads as surface polishers under its Doodlebug brand. 3M also sells plastic moulded handles for the pads i.e. toothed hand-blocks, that allow such colour-coated pads to be attached and detached readily. The webs are sold in rectangular pad and circular disc formats.
  • Americo Manufacturing Company Incorporated makes and sells pads of various sizes up to "14 inches” by "32 inches” (approximately 35 cm x 81cm). Pads are coloured with colorants in order to distinguish the grades.
  • the pads with abrasive can be used for the new method though the abrasive is not directly useful in the oil composition interception operation.
  • Such abrasive-laden webs can be used as they have added stiffness and resilience. The webs can be made without the abrasive mineral gains. This will then lighten the pads.
  • the Americo Manufacturing Company's 24mm thick Black Stripping Floor Pad has about 40% by weight of abrasive and the 26mm thick Green Scrub Floor Pad about 27%.
  • Unbranded abrasive floor pads are supplied by service companies such as Techniclean Supplies Ltd of the United Kingdom. Colours of grades are typically red, orange, yellow, green, blue, violet, white, brown, maroon, black, grey, tan, champagne, buff, or white.
  • the resilient web is mat-like in appearance, having a highly open, fibrous texture.
  • the web is conformable and can be cut to shape or layered with other portions of web. By being elastically resilient, it readily recovers its shape after repeated, mild compression.
  • the web is unaffected by oil or water in relation to the purpose of the invention.
  • the web being in thick sheet form is easy to transport and relatively light in weight. Portions can be stitched or tied together to add to the depth, width or length.
  • the resilient webs have an
  • the preferred thickness of webs is from 15mm to 25mm and more preferably greater than 20mm.
  • Much thicker webs can be created by layering the above sheets e.g. four 2.5cm webs gives a 10cm thickness.
  • these sheets are separated when oil is to be expelled by water or air jetting.
  • the web acts as a sheet for holding the oil composition and thus can give temporary structure to it. As the sheet has structural integrity, when laden with oil composition, when the sheet is lifted the oil is lifted. The oil composition is then expelled, collected and the web sheet is ready for re-use.
  • Spilled oil to be recovered is free to move, and is usually them dispersed, in that it is unconfined by not being in held by a manufactured, transportable container. Commonly, it will spread across a body of water, land or another medium, as a result of gravity, assisted in exposed places by wind, rain, waves or tides. As a result of such spillage, the oil becomes contaminated due to extraneous matter and its composition might therefore change.
  • the web is exceptionally versatile material. Portions of resilient web can be used on irregular surfaces such as rocks, piers and retaining walls and robust vegetation for manual cleaning.
  • the web material can be used to collect oil compositions which are floating on water. It can be used to engage an oil composition which has sunk to the seabed, perhaps when mixed with gravel, by using a pole-handled "mop" having resilient web at the end face.
  • the submerged oil can be engaged by the web and lifted, subject to its cohesion. Buoyancy of the oil in water assists the removal.
  • the resilient colour-coated material can also be used to filter a volume of water which contains globules of oil compositions.
  • the material can be erected in a body of water, perhaps in panels, as part of a water filtering, oil-recovery flotation boom or a water filtering, oil-recovery barrier.
  • the oiled material is removed to expel oil and further colour-coated web put in its place to continue the process.
  • the volume of accumulated, recovered oil composition can grow, commonly to at least ten kilogrammes, but can be to at least a metric tonne, about a thousand litres.
  • the collection method is preferably followed by thereafter refining i.e. physically fractionating or chemically treating, said accumulated oil composition to create at least a refined product.
  • refining i.e. physically fractionating or chemically treating
  • said accumulated oil composition to create at least a refined product.
  • the collected oil can be extracted with a saturated aqueous solution of sodium chloride, or mild aqueous acid or mild aqueous alkali, for example to break an oil-in-water emulsion.
  • the accumulated oil can alternatively be thinned with one or more organic solvents such as light petroleum fractions, or can be mixed with other compositions as part of the post- accumulation processing stage.
  • the repetition of the process preferably occurs at least five times, and in some cases at least twenty, at least fifty, or at least a hundred times, per mat or per set of mats, per clean-up operation. Deployment of many mats, operating in parallel allows this to scale up
  • An operation or task is a specific job with an object to remove oil composition to the specified depth of cleaning that is determined by the cleaning specification for that locality.
  • the medium on which the uncontained, spilled oil is present can be solid such as sand, rocks, concrete, timber, vegetation or water.
  • the method can employ a plurality of said webs which are either sequentially collecting, or collecting in parallel. Combinations of webs bound and used together can be employed for larger capacity interception steps and these webs can be of the same or differently coloured colour-coated types.
  • a portion of colour-coated web can be attached to an item to allow handling. This can be by attachment means such as a fastener, and this extends the utility of the web.
  • the item can be essentially a handle such as a hand pad handle or a mop body (having a platen for attaching the web and a pole as a handling shaft).
  • the item can be a water flotation boom or a water barrier member to create a filtering boom or barrier.
  • the item can be a scaffold for supporting said web such as fencing mesh, made of metal or plastic: this gives the web some rigidity for some applications.
  • the web device can be vicinally linked to a further such device by linking means, for example forming a pair. A chain or array of a plurality of such devices can be used to extend across a stream, river or estuary.
  • the item can be an electromechanically or otherwise powered, oil composition skimming device, said web being the oil composition collector for said attached device.
  • the cost of the web material is higher than a non-resilient, nonwoven cloth, the latter being single use wiping items with low oil collection capacity. Such cloths need to be disposed of after use, adding to the cost and waste.
  • the portion of web can be associated with at least further portion of such web, such that during said repeated process, all such webs collect portions of said oil composition.
  • the collected oil can be expelled by pressure means such as water jet or air jet, or compression of the resilient web.
  • the collected oil can also be expelled centrifugal ly, if the web is rotated such as in powered rotary oil skimming apparatus. This can be assisted with a water or air jet, as the skimmed oils are usually relatively light and fluid.
  • the web can be a member of an operationally associated set of webs, for an oil recovery task, technical grades of which are differentiated by being provided with distinctive colours.
  • the web can be further cleaned of non-expelled oil in a liquid such as a bath of a light petroleum fraction or of water which is preferably heated, containing a surfactant or both.
  • a liquid such as a bath of a light petroleum fraction or of water which is preferably heated, containing a surfactant or both.
  • coated web preferably coloured with a colorant pigment or dyestuff, for use in the said method.
  • collected oil composition thereby accumulated because of the operation of said method.
  • pressure means for expelling use in said method.
  • a refined product of said method there is provided an oil water-flotation boom or water barrier as described for use in the oil recovery method.
  • an oil skimmer as described for use in the oil recovery method.
  • Oil composition can be accumulated by firstly placing the face of the skeletal mat of a collecting device against said oil composition such that a portion of said oil composition permeates the skeletal void of said mat and is relatively trapped therein, said mat being formed of filamentous oleophilic elements of width greater than 20 microns, said elements being arranged and bonded to create said skeletal void which is resiliently compressible, said mat having an uncompressed thickness of at least 5 mm, a main open facial area of at least 100 square centimetres, and a bulk specific gravity of less than 0.2, secondly thereafter moving said mat laterally with respect to the direction of a main face of said mat such the skeletally entrained oil composition is laterally moved, and thirdly thereafter subjecting said oil-compositioned mat to a cleaning means such as pressure jetting, such that, under cleaning, at least some of said oil composition is thereby separated from said mat for collection in a receptacle which is operationally associated with said cleaning means.
  • a cleaning means such as pressure jetting
  • the oil composition comes from the leakage, spillage or release of crude or heavy oil i.e. oil which has a bituminous or tarry residual component. Commonly it can be concentrated and weathered oil composition, sometimes forming semisolid fragments. It can also be oil that has been adsorbed on an absorbent such as clay, sawdust or wood flour to render it as a collectable oil composition.
  • the method of the invention can be employed after first adding a thickening agent to the oil to render it less mobile and thus collectable by the skeletal mat in accordance with the invention.
  • the mat can have a bulk specific gravity excluding any abrasive particle loading, of less than 0.15 and an uncompressed bulk thickness of at least 2cm.
  • the area of a main face of the mat is preferably greater than 0.1 square metre, more preferably greater than 0.2 square metres, possibly at least 0.5 square metres.
  • the area of the main face of the colour-coated web can be at least 5 square metres.
  • the bulk specific gravity of the mat is determined by determining the mass of a mat and its
  • the bulk specific gravity (other than for abrasive particle content) can be in the range of 0.15 to 0.01.
  • the recovery method can be used when the mat of said device is applied to oil composition supported by the medium of ground and exposed to the air.
  • the mat can be applied onto oil composition from above the oil composition.
  • the mat can then be dragged to the side perhaps onto an impermeable material like a pond liner or tray for later transport to the designated cleaning station.
  • conveying means such as a barrow, truck or floating vessel, can be used for one or more colour-coated, oil-intercepting devices.
  • the mat can be used to hold oil composition which has been dropped onto it from a shovel or similar device.
  • oil composition which has been dropped onto it from a shovel or similar device.
  • the mat has a backing liner to prevent strike through and loss of the oil composition.
  • the web can be used as a filter, so allow oil rocks, etc., to drain of oil into the web.
  • a main face of the further mat can lie on a main face of the primary mat. Alternatively, they can he held apart by one or more spacers.
  • a "sandwich" device can be formed of two, three, four, six, ten or more mats in a stack, each layer either being in contact with the adjacent layer or separated from it by one or more spacers.
  • the mats can be coupled by using nylon cable ties or wire-twist ties.
  • the oil-intercepting device can be one of a set of identical devices, for repeated use in the said process.
  • the mat can be a planar sheet or a curved sheet for example made convex, concave or rolled into a cylinder or spiral. It can be held in position by holding means.
  • a water barrier or boom device can comprise buoyancy means.
  • the buoyancy means can be expanded polystyrene or a similar flotation device. It can be an inflated bladder or a gas-filled container which will float in the water. Marine buoyancy devices are well known in nautical circles.
  • the barrier device can comprise weighting means.
  • the weighting means can be metal spheres or cylinders for attachment to the colour- coated web material to allow it to hang reasonably vertically in water to resist mild currents.
  • the barrier device can comprise a hawser.
  • the hawser can be rope or wire for example measuring tens of metres, and used to align a modular barrier device or to act as tether or tow lines.
  • the device can have a second or further hawser.
  • the barrier device can comprise high visibility means such as a light reflector or radiation-activated luminescer such as a high-glow, fluorescent pigment. This can be on or attached to any frame.
  • the barrier device can comprise a radar reflector for example when the barrier is part of a boom or barrier across a sea, a river, a lake, a stream, a lagoon or a canal.
  • the structural nonwoven web can be attached to web-supporting means such as a plastic mesh which can be relatively stiff relative to said web.
  • web-supporting means such as a plastic mesh which can be relatively stiff relative to said web.
  • Such meshes are manufactured by companies such as Boddingtons Limited of Essex for example its Windbreak Fence Netting, this being generally planar, having thick diamond- formation struts and a high-void content.
  • the barrier device can be trawled across a body of said water by being attached to propulsion means such as a motorised boat or power winch.
  • the oil composition removal means can comprise a high pressure jet for example a high pressure water jet, or high pressure air jet.
  • Petrol or diesel powered water jet apparatus or air compressor apparatus is made by many companies such as Clarke International Ltd.
  • High velocity spray from a nozzle is used to dislodge the oil composition.
  • the water from a water jet spray can be recovered, filtered and repeatedly used to enable the removal of oil composition from further interceptions.
  • the container has means for holding a resilient, coated web during the oil composition removal process.
  • the web can be held directly or indirectly such as if it has an attached handle, tether line or frame. It is of advantage to automate the process so that a web with oil composition can be located on a skeletal frame on the container and then subjected to oil composition removal spraying or air jetting. The cleaned web is then removed for re-use and the next placed in position for cleaning.
  • oil composition recovery method herein can also be used to intercept water-in-oil emulsions (oil mousse).
  • apparatus for skimming oil from water can comprise a skimming element, means for rotating said skimming element to skim such oil, in use, means for collecting oil skimmed by said element, in use, means for storing such collected oil, characterised in that said skimming element at least comprises a colour-coated web (as herein defined) as collector for the oil composition.
  • Water has a viscosity of about 0.1 mPa s.
  • Oil compositions tend to have viscosities from the free-flowing oils of about 50mPa-s up to dense crude oil compositions about 200 Pa s.
  • the grade and thickness of web is to be matched to the oil and speed of rotation. It is possible for webs to be used thicker by layering; for example two 25mm webs give a 50mm thickness. It can be seen that the viscosity of water is much lower than that of crude and other such oil compositions. Water will readily and preferentially flow through the web. This allows large volumes of water to be relatively quickly filtered of crude oil and other such oil globules what match the porosity of the web, a major advantage.
  • the skimmer web can be in the form of a substantially endless belt.
  • the belt is a continuous web apart from the end-to-end joint which creates a discontinuity and prevents it being entirely endless.
  • the joint can be a butt joint or an overlap, with stitching, tying, or clamping means being used.
  • the web can be supported with ropes or cords to reduce the stress on the web when being propelled by the power unit.
  • the colour-coated web can be wrapped around the circumference of a drum or disc.
  • the skimming element can comprise a flat belt such as made of an elastomer, rope, metal or plastic to which the web is attached by attachment means for example by riveting, clipping, binding, hot melt adhesion, welding or the like. This allows the propulsion stress from the drive motor to be carried by the supporting sheet and the load spread more evenly to the web.
  • the skimming element can comprise at least two layers of the web material and these can be the same or have different bulk thicknesses or grades of material for example a coarse grade and a fine grade. In practice, webs are likely to be from 5mm to 26mm in bulk thickness.
  • the resilient, crosslink-bonded web can be used on the surface of a hollow drum but preferably, a drum has an open skeletal structure to allow water-jetting means to be used to allow oil to be displaced as the drum rotates.
  • the skimming element can comprise a disc of the nonwoven web which, in use, can be spun around its axis and bearing shaft by the rotating means.
  • the disc can be from 10cm to 80 cm in diameter or more. In use, the rotational axis is approximately horizontal, so that the plane of the disc is vertical.
  • the element can comprise a plurality of discs of the nonwoven web which, in use, are spun around their common axis by the rotation means, this axis being horizontal in skimming use.
  • a shaft that can be rotated by the rotating means can be mounted a plurality of coated web discs for example up to twenty. If the discs are 2.5cm thick, this can create a nonwoven "drum" of length 50cm.
  • the means for rotating the element can comprise a hydraulic power unit or an electrical power unit.
  • the resilient element can be used as an elongate belt, like a conveyor belt, or in a rotary manner using discs which rotate in the plane of the discs.
  • the rotary motion can be that of scooping.
  • a main face of a rectangular platen of supported web is brought downwards onto the oil, then translated inwards, largely horizontally, to the collecting means where the oil is removed, if necessary with jets.
  • the platen is then lifted upwards, translated outwards, largely horizontally, then brought down again on the oil and the process repeated.
  • the web can be provided as a series of flaps on a rotary shaft.
  • the apparatus can be a navigable vessel which incorporates the facility.
  • the vessel can also incorporate one or more lateral booms to channel oil from a wide area into the skimming head.
  • the apparatus can be a vehicle or a portable single function unit.
  • the skimming apparatus can additionally comprise jetting means whereby, in use, a jet of fluid can be directed onto said web in order to displace oil that the web has skimmed.
  • This fluid can be water or air. This enables the element to rotate faster and so pick up more oil. If water jets are used then the water can be collected, filtered and reused to reduce waste.
  • Oil to be skimmed can be fed by channelling booms, either on a vessel under propulsion or making use of the tidal flow to push the oil to the skimmer.
  • the oil collected can also have water present. These phases might naturally separate in a holding tank, allowing the water to be drained. Alternatively, the accumulated oil might need to be processes to achieve the separation and purification of the recovered oil
  • a method of skimming oil floating on water can comprise engaging the web of the skimming element of the apparatus of any form as described, with such oil, rotating said skimming element to skim such oil, collecting oil skimmed by said element in said collecting means and storing such collected oil in said storage means.
  • the colour-coated resilient web will normally carry at least 25% of its void volume of oil per lift of oil, no matter whether that oil is internal to the mat, adhered to an outer surface or both.
  • the web is used only as a and preferably as the only oil collector though in some cases sorbents can be simultaneously used.
  • the availability of the colour-coated web material for floor pad and abrasive use at moderate cost is an advantage.
  • the ability of the colour-coated material to engage oil whether in or on water or in air is an advantage as too the relative ease of expelling the oil.
  • the web material has favourable Material Safety Data Sheet character. It is environmentally mild in its nature, mode of use and aftermath.
  • the high resistance to oil and water given by the crosslinked i.e. cured, coloured coating is a major advantage as the web material is relatively indestructible in use, allowing its repeated use many times, potentially from task to task.
  • Figure 1 illustrates a main side view of a disc of a resilient, coated web.
  • Figure 2 illustrates an edge view of five discs of Figure 1, attached to a shaft.
  • Figure 3 illustrates a view from above of oil composition skimming apparatus.
  • Figure 4 illustrates a cross-section of a flap-wheel oil composition skimmer element of the invention.
  • Figure 5 illustrates a view of a narrow cross-section of a framed barrier device for use in the method, adjacent to an oil composition floating in a body of open water.
  • Figure 6 illustrates the interception and oleophilic anchoring of the oil composition island of Figure 5 by the resilient, oleophilic web of the device.
  • Figure 7 illustrates the oil composition island of Figure 5, intercepted by the resilient web of the device, both being laterally moved.
  • Figure 8 illustrates a sectional view of a cleaning station for the skeletal interceptor mat, i.e. resilient web, of Figure 7 and collection and storage of the expelled oil composition in a container.
  • Figure 9 shows a plan view i.e. elevation, of the framed, filtering barrier device of Figure 5, for use in a body of water having a plurality of islands of oil composition.
  • Figure 10 illustrates major side view of a modularly framed web, oil composition interceptor barrier for use in the invention.
  • Figure 11 illustrates a major side view of four modular, interconnected, removable web sections as part of an oil composition interception boom.
  • Figure 12 shows a major face view of a handled, oil composition interceptor mat for small- scale collection of oil compositions such as from oiled, irregular coastal surfaces.
  • Figure 13 shows a major face view of a further handled oil composition interceptor mat, this having rope reinforcements to support the web.
  • Figure 14 shows a side elevation of a handled oil composition collector of a "mop" style.
  • FIG. 1 the side of a disc (1) of a high-loft, resilient, crosslink-bonded nonwoven web is shown.
  • This oleophilic web has a reinforced annulus (2) on a central cutout for a supporting shaft (not shown), when in skimming use.
  • the crosslinking is achieved by use of an oleophilic, hydrophobic coating applied to the uncrosslinked web, for example by spraying, drenching or dipping as known in the art of making floor maintenance pads, such as is conducted by 3M Company and Americo Manufacturing Inc.
  • the coating incorporates a colorant, a pigment or dye, so that it uniformly appears red, orange, yellow, green, blue, violet, white, brown, maroon, black, grey, tan, champagne, buff, white or the like.
  • the web can also carry abrasive material particles such as aluminium carbide or flint as known in the abrasive web-making art.
  • FIG 2 on a skimmer shaft (3) four resilient discs (4,5,6,7) of the type of Figure 1 are mounted for use in skimming.
  • the discs can be of the same colour or different.
  • the discs are separated by spacers (8,9,10) with end mounts (1 1,12).
  • this shaft is connected to powered drive means such as hydraulic, electrical or compressed air.
  • powered drive means such as hydraulic, electrical or compressed air.
  • the lower portions of the discs are lowered into the oil composition, usually floating on water.
  • the mobile oil composition permeates the voids and the rotation of the discs causes the oil to be transported in the direction of rotation until the oil composition detaches due to the rotational speed.
  • the oil composition is thereby expelled for collection and expelled portions are accumulated for later processing such as filtering, chemical extraction or refining and duly processed.
  • the skimming disc mounting body (13) has a parallel array of seven resilient, colour-coated web discs (14, only one numbered for clarity) of Figure 1 on a central shaft which engages with a bearing mount (15) and a drive mount (16) associated with the hydraulic motor (17) served by hydraulic power lines (18,19).
  • a funnelling tray (20) enables oil composition to be channelled to the rotating discs, in use, where the oil is then picked up by the webs and spun into a receiving duct (21) which enables collected and expelled oil composition to drain to a storage vat (22). The oil is later removed for chemical or physical refining and duly refined.
  • a section of a flap skimming wheel shows a central tubular portion (23) for mounting on a shaft (not shown), the central portion having four resilient, bonded, colour- coated non-woven flaps (24,25,26,27).
  • the web is as described in Figure 1.
  • Each flap is rectangular in major area and attached by securing means to the central portion.
  • Each flap can have a mesh former (not shown), as a structural support, to enable the flap to be held curved, as shown.
  • Any number of flaps can be used on a central shaft, commensurate with space being available.
  • the flaps can be provided with an elongate plastic edge strip, to act as a clamp for the web, so allowing the flap edge strips to slide into receiving houses on the main shaft.
  • These flaps can be locked in place with securing plates at the end of the main shaft to prevent the flap sliding out during rotary skimming operations.
  • These flaps act as paddle wheels and can be used with more viscous oil compositions and oil mousses.
  • the flap acts with a wafting action and can tolerate a level of small debris associated with the oil composition.
  • the individual webs can be reinforced with plastic or metal mesh if necessary.
  • Accumulated oil is later processed. Accumulated oil can also be assayed by providing a sample to assaying means to determine its composition or physical properties.
  • Figure 5 is a minor cross-sectional view of a framed rectangular mat. It shows the oil composition collecting device consisting of a resilient, high-loft mat of crosslinked non- woven material (28) of the kind described in Figure 1, with a frame formed by a handle (29) having an aperture (30) for a tether, the handle being attached to the resilient, high-loft mat by a fastening pin (31).
  • a double layer of fencing grade mesh (32 A, 32B) flanks the mat (28) as a structural support and this is end-capped with further frame portion (32C).
  • the oil composition collecting unit is in located in a body of water (33).
  • the bare polyester web has been coated with an oleophilic coloured coating to give it a distinctive colour, such as black, blue, brown or green, the grades of web being differentiated by colour as known in the art of making such resilient webs for surface finishing purposes.
  • the web can incorporate abrasive or other particles into or onto the colouring coating.
  • the resilient, high-loft mat (28) of Figure 6 is shown being pulled sideways by the frame handle (29), enabling the resilient, high-loft mat and oil composition composite to be taken to the cleaning station.
  • the relative sideways motion can be on land, on water or in a body of water. On or in water the coefficient of friction of the oil in water is low and its buoyancy makes moving in water relatively easy. Thereafter the mat can be taken on land or collected on board a vessel for cleaning and the recovered oil later processed.
  • the resilient, high-loft mat (28) of Figure 7 is subjected to a high-pressure, water spray from a nozzle (35).
  • the spray jets (36) force the oil composition to dislodge in globules (37, only one numbered for clarity), these being caught by a container (38) where they accumulate with other previously collected oil composition portions (39).
  • the cleaned resilient, high-loft mat can then be repeatedly re-used as per Figure 5, perhaps five, ten, an hundred or more times.
  • the accumulated oil composition is then taken for processing (not shown) whereby it is processed by refining, filtering or being chemically extracted.
  • the colour-coated web acts not as a permanent absorbant for the oil composition, which would risk adding to waste, but a temporary carrier.
  • the coating does not significant swell, rather the oil is collected in the voids or attached to the surface.
  • Figure 9 shows an elevation view of the type of framed barrier device of Figure 5.
  • the colour-coated high-loft web (28) of the kind of Figure 1 is in a frame having a pair of handles (29A, 29B) and a fence mesh of mainly parallel bars (side 32A shown).
  • the barrier can be used alone or in combination with others in parallel or serial connection, and can be used attached to tethers for example for placing across rivers or attached to floats for use at sea.
  • a web measuring 100cm x 100cm by 2.5cm and bulk specific gravity of 0.05 can nominally hold internally about 24 litres of oil composition.
  • modular oil composition interceptor shown generally as 40 for use in an oil composition interceptor boom has a high-loft, colour-coated nonwoven web (41) of the kind of Figure 1, held by parallel framing bars (42, only one numbered for clarity), with the same arrangement of bars on the reverse (not shown) of the web.
  • the bars are held by two parallel and coplanar framing members (43, 44) connected by a top framing member (45) having tethering apertures (46,47).
  • Framing member 43 has two engagement probes (48,49) to allow connection to a matching framing member of identical module.
  • Framing member 44 has two socket apertures (50, 51) to receive a pair of engagement probes from a further identical module.
  • the pegs (48, 49) when in matching sockets can be laterally pinned (not shown) to hold them temporarily together.
  • the interception boom modules can be weighted with weights to facilitate vertical hanging in open water.
  • the coloured, resilient web has a low resistance to flowing water and so acts a filtering barrier for a large volume of open water.
  • the web will engage suitably viscous oil composition islands that come into contact.
  • the tethers are later removed to release each panel which is then cleared with high- pressure water spray to remove oil composition before being reinstalled in a further boom.
  • the expelled oil is accumulated for later processing such as by refining, chemical extraction of filtering.
  • the barrier can be used to protect sensitive ecosystems by allowing tidal flow through the web while intercepting i.e. blocking, islands of floating oil composition.
  • the depth of the barrier can be many metres, three, ten or more, if necessary, preferably in individual panels.
  • a water filtering boom that stretches for 100 metres, having a 2m deep skirt and having four 2.5cm thick layers of resilient web with a bulk specific gravity of the web at 0.05 can theoretically hold internally about 19 000 litres of oil composition.
  • the boom will be serviced at intervals to remove the panels and expel collected oil before retuning the panels to the boom or a similar one. The expelled oil is later taken for processing and processed.
  • a rectangle of colour-coated, high-loft nonwoven resilient, web (58) of the kind of Figure 1 has a plastic edge member (59) to which is attached a rope handle (60).
  • the resilient, high-loft mat is laid on oil composition.
  • the handle is pulled to lift or laterally displace the resilient, high-loft mat and its associated oil composition.
  • the oil is then expelled and the mat re-used.
  • the resilient, high- loft web can be used to collect a number of small islands of oil composition so long as they fit within the area of the resilient, colour-coated, high-loft mat. The accumulated oil is later processed.
  • a more elongate rectangle of colour-coated high-loft non- woven web material (61) than in Figure 12 but of the kind described in Figure 1, has a first plastic edge member (62) which has two rope handles (63,64 ) and an opposing plastic edge member (65) with two rope handles (66,67).
  • the device also has a pair of support ropes (68,69) fixed between the opposing edge members (with a further pair of ropes on the identical opposing side of the web, not shown) to provide the web with support when being lifted after being charged with oil composition.
  • An inert plastic or metal net or an impermeable cover can be attached to the edge members and used instead of or in addition to the supporting ropes.
  • the resilient, coated web is the same type as used for the aforementioned barrier invention and so too the cleaning method.
  • the nominal oil composition-holding capacity is that of the bulk void volume of the resilient, high-loft mat i.e. more than 45 litres.
  • the resilient, high-loft mat enables amorphous oil compositions to be collected in an efficient manner. After expulsion of the intercepted oil composition at a cleaning station, the inert resilient, high-loft mat is reused. The collected oil is later processed.
  • the internal void collection rate of oil is greater than 270 litres per hour. With one hundred mats in operation, the hourly collection rate is 27 000 litres of oil.
  • the colour-coated oil intercepting mat can be used in places where oil is difficult to handle and avoids the disruption of mechanical shovels. The reclaimed oil composition is then processed for economic value.
  • the web allows water to be filtered and oil composition intercepted in a way that fabric booms do not.
  • the web material itself has a minimal environmental impact.
  • the web material is relatively light. It is readily reused as the sole collector as a way of accumulating the otherwise dispersed oil composition.
  • Oil composition recovery pads of this type described can be used to recover oil from generally inaccessible places, such as caves by lowering with ropes the resilient mats into oiled caves.
  • the process is also simple to understand and to execute and it is surprisingly effective.
  • it can be useful to have a set of differently colour-coated webs available, these reflecting different technical grades of the web.
  • the operator can choose one or more of the webs to intercept the oil, thereby maximising the efficiency of the process.
  • the colour-coated webs in the set can be of any of the colours red, orange, yellow, green, blue, violet, white, brown, maroon, black, grey, tan, champagne, buff, white or the like.
  • the colour-coated webs can also carry abrasive particles.
  • FIG. 14 illustrated "mop" collection using the web.
  • a handle for resilient, coated web for oil collection is shown generally at 70.
  • the handle has a shaft (71) attached to a head (72) of a generally rectangular major surface area.
  • the shaft is attached by a swivel joint (73) which can be a universal joint such as 3M "Doodlebug" floor maintenance pad holders for use with colour-coated, resilient nonwoven floor pads.
  • the working face of the head of the handle has a plurality of protruding plastic T-hooks (74) which enable a ready hook-and loop style of detachable fastening to portions of resilient, colour-coated web suitable for oil interception in accordance with the teaching of the invention.
  • the "mop" handle is provided with two portions of identically coloured, resilient, coated web (75,76), each having a rectilinear pad-like shape.
  • the resilient coloured nonwoven pad 75 can be used for oil collection and then removed for oil expulsion by mechanical expression or high pressure jetting. The expelled oil is collected in a container (not shown).
  • the handle can be provided with the other pad (76), with the two being repeatedly and alternately used for oil collection and oil expulsion.
  • the mop is also provided with a double layered pad (77), formed of two thinner pads held by nylon stitching. This allows double the volume of oil composition to be collected internally. The accumulated oil is later processed.
  • Each handle of this kind can be provided with perhaps a hundred or more colour-coated pads of one or more sizes and colours to allow rapid oil collection.
  • a resilient pad which has dimensions of 25cm x 10cm x 2.5cm and a specific gravity of less than 0.05, can hold around 600ml of oil composition internally. Using one such pad per minute, the volume of oil composition collected per hour internally by the pad is potentially about 36 litres. With one hundred operatives with such mops and pads, the potential collection rate is 3 600 litres per hour.
  • each "mop" head would be provided with perhaps a hundred pads and there would preferably be a systematic operation of collecting the oiled pads, expelling the oil composition and accumulating it and, in parallel, returning the pads for re-use.
  • the process is very efficient and versatile as the handle can be used to reach onto shallow seabeds, and to wipe surfaces such as walls, hulls and piers.
  • Castrol LM vehicle grease was mixed with a 20/50 multigrade vehicle engine oil in 10-to- 1 , 5-to-2 and 1 -to- 1 proportions by weight to create a variety of petroleum oil compositions having different viscosities and compositions. To lOOg of each composition was mixed 2g of dry coarse sand.
  • the oil composition islands engaged with the colour-coated mat.
  • the oil composition partly permeated the skeletal void.
  • the mat was moved sideways i.e. laterally parallel to the plane of its main surface, and the oil composition moved in concert.
  • the mat was then subjected to a high-pressure water jet from a 700 kPa sprayer. This quickly expelled a portion of the oil composition into the associated collecting receptacle and enabled the mat to be re-used.
  • the accumulated oil composition was processed by being separated from the water from the jet, warmed and passed through a sieve to remove sand particles to result in a quantity of filtered, recovered oil composition.
  • the mat was formed of two-tied layers of an unbranded generic, resilient green colour- coated nonwoven web (scourer grade), each web layer being 5mm thick of bulk SG 0.1 1 and of fine mesh. A main face of this was applied to each island of oil composition material to allow some to entrain the 10mm thick skeletal web composite. A portion of the oil composition material was readily and quickly lifted with a sideways lifting action of the mat by hand. The oiled mat was then held in a holding container with other such mats and later the mats were removed from the container and subjected to a high-pressure water jet using high pressure jetting apparatus associated with the recovery container. This removed i.e. expelled, and recovered oil composition and the mats could then be re-used. The process was repeated ten times, by lifting oil from adjacent areas of sand, and the accumulated oil composition was then separated from the water for processing. The composition was warmed and passed through a sieve to remove sand, leaving a quantity of recovered oil composition.
  • a composition was made of lOOg bituminous roof gutter paint and 200g multigrade 20/50 engine oil.
  • a section of fine, resilient, white colour-coated web 25cm x 4cm x 2.5cm was cut from an unbranded hand block pad, Product Code 130PBL (25cm x 12cm x 2.2cm: bulk SG 0.03) supplied by Techniclean Supplies Ltd. To this was attached a handle comprising a fold-back spring clip and a section of fine rope.
  • the white web strip was dipped endwise into the oil and water for a few seconds whereupon the web was preferentially wetted by the oil composition.
  • the strip was withdrawn using the rope.
  • the handle was temporarily removed and the web pressed with a roller on a tray to expel oil.
  • the handle was re-attached and the process resumed. The process was repeated ten times resulting in the gradual transfer of oil to the accumulating vessel.
  • Example 3 This was undertaken as per Example 3 but using a coarse grade of resilient web, this being black colour-coated and supplied as product code 130PBL.
  • the original pad measured 25cm x 12cm x 2.2cm.
  • the specific bulk gravity was 0.08.
  • the handle was attached as before. Being of coarser texture, the composition took less time to penetrate the web.
  • oil was also carried on the surface of the web when withdrawn. The process was repeated ten times resulting in the gradual transfer of oil to the accumulating vessel. The coarser grade of web is more suited to higher viscosity oil compositions. The oil was then shaken with salt water and the fractions settled and separated to give processed oil.
  • a plastic tray, measuring 30cm x 20cm x 8cm was filled with water to a 5cm depth. Onto this was poured a 2cm depth of multi-grade 20/50 engine oil. The bath was then swept lengthwise with orthogonally placed, width- wide portions of the white colour-coated web used in Example 3, 20cm long x 4cm wide to which clip handles had been attached on a longest edge. The web was preferentially wetted by the oil, with the oil penetrating the web. The web was swept along the surface to collect oil and then removed. This simulated the water-filtering effect of a filtering boom of the invention. The oil was expelled by water jets and the process repeated ten times, accumulating oil composition in the collection chamber. The oil was then shaken with salt water and the fractions settled and separated to give processed oil.

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  • Engineering & Computer Science (AREA)
  • General Engineering & Computer Science (AREA)
  • Environmental & Geological Engineering (AREA)
  • Mechanical Engineering (AREA)
  • Civil Engineering (AREA)
  • Structural Engineering (AREA)
  • Removal Of Floating Material (AREA)

Abstract

L'invention concerne un procédé répétitif de récupération par accumulation de compositions de pétrole déversées, tel que du pétrole brut, utilisant un mat non tissé revêtu par réticulation oléophile et hydrophobe, de préférence à pigmentation de couleur, pour intercepter des compositions de pétrole non confinées sur l'eau ou sur les côtes. L'ossature du mat élastique, à indice de vide élevé, permet de déplacer le pétrole intercepté vers une station de récupération, puis de l'expulser au moyen de jets sous pression et de le collecter pour un traitement ultérieur. Le mat est continuellement débarrassé du pétrole et réutilisé de manière répétée. Les volumes de pétrole expulsés sont accumulés pour un raffinage ultérieur. Le mat élastique peut être utilisé comme dispositif d'interception de pétrole dans un barrage d'interception de pétrole qui est pourvu de flotteurs (56) fixés à des câbles d'attache (57) supportant des panneaux détachables (58) incorporant une toile, ou dans une écrémeuse de pétrole. Le procédé est polyvalent et écologique.
PCT/GB2011/000684 2010-05-06 2011-05-05 Procédé de récupération de déversements de pétrole WO2011138583A1 (fr)

Priority Applications (1)

Application Number Priority Date Filing Date Title
GB1221823.6A GB2498625B (en) 2010-05-06 2011-05-05 Oil spill recovery method

Applications Claiming Priority (6)

Application Number Priority Date Filing Date Title
GB1007532.3 2010-05-06
GBGB1007532.3A GB201007532D0 (en) 2010-05-06 2010-05-06 Method of collecting dispersed material
GBGB1009254.2A GB201009254D0 (en) 2010-06-03 2010-06-03 Oil sludge interception method
GB1009254.2 2010-06-03
GB1009930.7 2010-06-15
GBGB1009930.7A GB201009930D0 (en) 2010-06-15 2010-06-15 Oil skimming apparatus and method

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US10870917B2 (en) 2016-07-08 2020-12-22 Uchicago Argonne, Llc Functionalized foams
US10954139B2 (en) 2015-12-11 2021-03-23 Uchicago Argonne, Llc Oleophilic foams for oil spill mitigation
US11548798B2 (en) 2019-04-23 2023-01-10 Uchicago Argonne, Llc Compressible foam electrode
US11590456B2 (en) 2018-05-31 2023-02-28 Uchicago Argonne, Llc Systems and methods for oleophobic composite membranes
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US12012559B2 (en) 2018-05-11 2024-06-18 Uchicago Argonne, Llc Janus membranes via atomic layer deposition

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CA1322965C (fr) 1989-08-16 1993-10-12 Albert Abrevaya Tampon filtrant avec poche, et methode d'utilisaiton connexe
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JPH07238448A (ja) 1994-02-28 1995-09-12 Kuraray Co Ltd 油処理用不織布シート
WO1996003211A1 (fr) 1994-07-27 1996-02-08 Holinee Corporation Tapis composite absorbant ameliore
JPH1057806A (ja) 1996-05-17 1998-03-03 Rohm & Haas Co 表面から液体汚染物を除去する方法およびそのための再使用可能なマット
US5965030A (en) 1997-04-15 1999-10-12 Rohm And Haas Company Reusable mat for removing liquid contaminants
US6332737B1 (en) 1999-03-01 2001-12-25 Jack Mattson Waterway pollution control apparatus
DE10140909A1 (de) 2001-08-21 2003-03-06 Haenel Alexander Ingo Federnetz und Federkissen für den Einsatz bei Ölhavarien und eine Einrichtung und ein Verfahren zum Füllen der Federkissen am Havarieort
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WO2004076750A1 (fr) 2003-02-27 2004-09-10 Galan Cavadas Jesus Machine destinee a eliminer des residus flottants de la surface de l'eau
DE10334967A1 (de) 2003-07-31 2005-03-03 Sächsisches Textilforschungsinstitut e.V. Schwimmfähiger Ölabsorber
WO2009036959A2 (fr) 2007-09-19 2009-03-26 Helmut Schiwek Barrage

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US9719226B2 (en) * 2012-05-04 2017-08-01 Oil Clear Europe Ltd. Floatable oil absorber
US20150122718A1 (en) * 2012-05-04 2015-05-07 Oil Clear Europe Ltd. Floatable oil absorber, its uses, and its method of manufacture
WO2016040762A1 (fr) * 2014-09-11 2016-03-17 President And Fellows Of Harvard College Séparation de composés organiques émulsionnés et dissous de l'eau
US10954139B2 (en) 2015-12-11 2021-03-23 Uchicago Argonne, Llc Oleophilic foams for oil spill mitigation
US10870917B2 (en) 2016-07-08 2020-12-22 Uchicago Argonne, Llc Functionalized foams
US11896935B2 (en) 2017-08-17 2024-02-13 Uchicago Argonne, Llc Filtration membranes
US12012559B2 (en) 2018-05-11 2024-06-18 Uchicago Argonne, Llc Janus membranes via atomic layer deposition
US11590456B2 (en) 2018-05-31 2023-02-28 Uchicago Argonne, Llc Systems and methods for oleophobic composite membranes
CN108867812A (zh) * 2018-07-18 2018-11-23 东阳市善水环境工程有限公司 用于污水处理的过滤管道
CN108867812B (zh) * 2018-07-18 2020-08-25 东阳市善水环境工程有限公司 用于污水处理的过滤管道
US11351478B2 (en) * 2018-09-06 2022-06-07 Uchicago Argonne, Llc Oil skimmer with oleophilic coating
US20200078705A1 (en) * 2018-09-06 2020-03-12 Uchicago Argonne Llc Oil skimmer with oleophilic coating
US11548798B2 (en) 2019-04-23 2023-01-10 Uchicago Argonne, Llc Compressible foam electrode

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