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BSEE funds tests of autonomous skimmer Device automatically guides oil collection system through the thickest sections of an offshore oil slick to maximize oil recovery ALAN BAILEY Petroleum News
The federal Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement has been funding research in its Ohmsett test facility in New Jersey, to evaluate the effectiveness of an autonomous oil skimmer system, according to the latest edition of the Ohmsett Gazette. The device, which is placed in the apex of an oil collection boom, mounted to the bow of a spill response vessel, senses the thickness of an oil slick and then uses a high-precision navigation package to guide the vessel along an optimum route.
BSEE says that the system was first tried out in the test tank at Ohmsett in 2015 and worked as anticipated in a simulated oil slick. Following lessons learned from that exercise, the researchers improved the system algorithms to better match real-world vessel dynamics. Further tests in March 2016 involved a variety of wave conditions. The system worked well in calm water and long-period waves, but performance dropped in short-period waves, the researchers reported. Tests were also conducted of a sensor for measuring the oil-in-water percentage.
At this stage, the concept for the autonomous skimmer has been shown to be feasible, BSEE reported. The next step in the program would involve scaling up the technology to operate with larger skimmer vessels, and to incorporate the sensing of oil thicknesses over a wider area of water, the agency said.
Other research projects Other research reported in the Ohmsett Gazette included a test of the impact on oil skimming of the partial treatment of oil with oil dispersant chemicals. Data from the tests are still being evaluated, but one of the tests did indicate that the presence of dispersant in oil did impact skimmer performance.
In another project, BSEE and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration tested the effectiveness of various remote sensing technologies in detecting, monitoring and measuring oil slicks in a marine environment. An initial study focused on the identification of oil emulsions using a variety of sensors mounted on aerial and satellite platforms. The researchers created a large oil slick in the Ohmsett test tank, and allowed the slick to weather for several days before using artificial waves to emulsify the oil.
Different sensors mounted on a bridge across the tank, on an unmanned aerial vehicle, on a fixed-wing aircraft and on a helicopter scanned the emulsified slick from multiple angles. Three satellites overflying the Ohmsett facility also collected high-resolution sensor data.
BSEE says the results of the sensor tests will provide input to some tests of the sensor technologies in the open water of the Gulf of Mexico, and will provide useful information about the effectiveness of remote sensing in real-world oil spill responses and oil spill damage assessments.
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