Oil Skimmers for Coastal Waters and Open Sea Cleaning

The transport of crude oil requires the adoption of safety measures in port terminals, especially during the operations of loading and unloading of crude oil. Accidents at sea are further serious cause of oil pouring and cause pollution. For these reasons the port terminals are equipped with oil skimmers and boats that intervene promptly to define and collect the spill at sea. The technology of oil skimmers is subject to continuous innovation, to ensure prompt actions when operating in restricted waters, as may be the area of the Gulf of Trieste, Northern Adriatic Sea or other restricted areas within the refineries and oil terminals. In the paper the principles by which the oil skimmers recover and transfer oil and some of the more salient changes introduced recently in this technology will be explained. Then we will present a new oil skimmer design, called FL.O.C (Flexible Oil Collector), developed under the Jonathan Project, in collaboration with the University of Trieste and the Area Science Park of Trieste. This project is currently under construction and should allow the availability of such a system as a standard equipment in short time. The new skimmer will allow the recovery of a high percentage of hydrocarbon in comparison to the traditional oil skimmers, will be available in very short time and will require small maintenance.