Novel oil skimmer using bubble barrier and water jet suction — Prototype design and its tank test

Abstract

This paper presents a new and innovative oil skimming device, which combines a bubble barrier and a water jet suction. The basic design philosophy of this device is based on the following two principles: (1) no oil- water separation on the water surface, and (2) no damming nor enclosure of oil by solid elements. By adopting these two principles, the device can have a very simple structure, light weight, which is quite different from many conventional oil skimmers, can solve many problems that the conventional oil skimmers suffers from, such as poor responsibility to the high viscosity oil or low maneuverability of the vessel trailing the skimmer with high water flow resistance. The author prototyped an experimental model and conducted experiments to confirm the effectiveness of these principles. It was found that the combination of the bubble barrier and the high-pressure water jet suction was effective for oil recovery to give a future vision of the oil recovery system.