OCEAN OIL SKIMMER FOR CONTINUOUS REMOVAL OF OIL FROM THE OPEN SEA METHODS
A method and three embodiments for continuously removing a film of pollutant, as oil, from floating on the water solely by gravity forces is disclosed. One apparatus comprises a closed top collecting vessel or tank of water elevated above the oil covered water with a large conduit extending from the bottom of the tank down into the oil, so that as the oil continuously and uninterruptedly floats up internally of the conduit and tank to the top of the tank, the water is simultaneously and continuously displaced and sinks down through the tank and conduit to the water below. With a plurality of tanks filled with water mounted not higher than 33 feet on a barge being pulled behind a barrier for gathering and banking up the oil just ahead of the barge, a floating pollutant or oil removal system is formed by extending conduits from the bottoms of the water tanks sloping downwardly over the barrier into the floating oil. After establishing a continuous exchange of the oil for the water in the tank by continuous gravity flow of both and oil and the water through the interconnecting conduit in opposite directions simultaneously, the conduit lower end may then be lowered slightly below the interface between the oil and the water, particularly when inadvertently lowered as the layer of oil becomes thin, for continued replacement of the water in the tank with the oil from below. As the oil rises continuously in the conduits and tanks to the top of the tanks, the water simultaneously and continuously sinks do to the water below to accordingly pick up only pollutants of lower density than water, as oil or oil emulsions to provide maximum oil concentration in the collecting vessel tank. After a tank is full of oil, it is either slid down into the water to be towed or drained into another oil barge pulled behind.
- File date 24 Feb 1975.
- Pogonowski, I C
- Fowler, J R
- Publication Date: 1979-1-23
- Pagination: 8 p.
- TRT Terms: Oil spill cleanup
- Uncontrolled Terms: Oil separators
- Old TRIS Terms: High seas oil recovery; Oil barriers; Oil recovery systems; Oil removal systems; Oil skimmers
- Subject Areas: Environment; Marine Transportation;
- Accession Number: 00195859
- Record Type: Publication
- Source Agency: Energy Research Abstracts
- Report/Paper Numbers: US PAT 4,136,008
- Files: TRIS
- Created Date: Jul 31 1979 12:00AM