Sack-based processes for recovering oil floating on water

Abstract

One or more water- and oil-porous containers or sacks are made of a pair of mesh sheets affixed together and stiffened around their perimeter. The sacks can be partially filled with a multitude of tubular bodies made of an oil-entrapping polymer, which have their longest dimension parallel to an axial hole. A preferred material is composed of a combination of SBS and EPDM, formed by an extrusion technique, to create highly fissured generally cylindrical bodies. The sacks may be deployed in areas where oil is floating on water, such as where oil has spilled from tankers on oceans, seas, lakes, or rivers. When the bodies are afloat, oily water can pass through the axial holes of and around the bodies, maximizing the surface area contacted by the oil and minimizing gel blocking. After a time sufficient for the bodies in the sacks to adsorb oil, the sacks can be collected. Various deployment and collection methods are disclosed. After collection, the oil may be recycled; alternatively the sacks may be incinerated, to recover the energy content for use as power while disposing of the oil.