Current technology

Overview: No significant new developments in 40 years

The oil spill recovery equipment being built today is essentially unchanged from when it was developed 30-40 years ago. Currently, the three most common methods used to deal with open water oil spills are mechanical skimmer recovery, dispersants, and in-situ burning. All three are ineffective in high waves over 3 metres or in heavy, dynamic ice.

Mechanical Skimmers can be divided into submerged plane, similar to the EST system, and all the others which involve brushes, weirs, discs, mops and conveyor belts. Of all these existing systems, only the EST system shows great promise in heavy seas and heavy, dynamic ice.

Dispersants are chemicals or mineral aggregates that are spread on the oil slicks with the intent to send them down into the water column.

In-Situ Burning involves mechanical igniters, often slung beneath helicopters, to try to ignite the floating oil.

 

Limitations of existing equipment

Mechanical Skimmers
There is an urgent need for new technology which will operate effectively in heavy seas and heavy, dynamic ice. At present, the products offered by the world's main oil spill equipment suppliers are limited to working in waves under 2m, and in fact most can barely deal with 1m waves. Rough water is therefore a challenge that cannot be met by existing technology.

The Prestige spill off Spain cost $3 billion to clean up because the heavy seas rendered recovery impossible and the oil drifted ashore. With the right equipment, the oil could have been recovered for under $50 million.

Prestige shipwreck

Another serious incident was the 1999 Erika oil spill off the coast of France. (See our Resources page for more on the Erica spill.)

Since the Prestige and Erika accidents, the European Union has begun the OSH project. Over $5 million has been spent on a feasibility design study for this vessel, whose estimated cost is $150 million. The OSH will not be effective in heavy ice. The simpler EST system has the potential to greatly reduce the cost of vessels designed to operate in distant offshore oil fields.

The world record for high seas oil spill recovery is likely held by the Norwegian vessel Stril Poseidon which is 91m long and cost approximately $75 million. Nevertheless, the maximum wave height handled by this exceptional vessel is still only 3m. And like the OSH and all other vessels and systems, the Stril Poseidon will be ineffective in heavy ice.

Stril Poseidon

Dispersants and In-Situ Burning
Time works quickly against dispersants and in-situ burning, making their use problematic in far offshore areas and in the Arctic. Normally the response time should be less than 72 hours, so reliance is usually placed on aircraft, which are easily thwarted by high winds, fog, long distances, long hours of darkness, icing and extreme cold. Furthermore, these techniques do not remove the oil from the environment. Dispersants send it down into the water column, and burning pollutes the air. These methods also leave behind 10 - 50% of the oil, which can wreak havoc in the environment

In-situ burning is not a solution.

In South Africa, a burning tanker resulted in an oily rain falling on farms up to 80 km inland. Another burning tanker near La Coruna, Spain resulted in a mass evacuation.

(See our Resources page for more information on the hazards of in-situ burning.)

In conclusion, as noted above, there is a strong need for new technology which will operate effectively in heavy seas and heavy, dynamic ice. The EST system, like all current systems, can efficiently recover oil in calm waters, but only EST offers the best potential to effectively deal with waves higher than 3m. In recent tank tests and sea trials the EST system demonstrated that it can operate at speeds radically higher than any other system. This will enhance its usefulness in normal oil spill situations.