U.S. Navy Ship Salvage Manual Volume 6 - Oil Spill Response

S0300-A6-MAN-060• Final cleaning with hot water and solvent. The boom is attached to the crane and lifted.As the boom is lifted straight up, high-pressure water is applied to remove all cleaningresidue. When the boom is lifted clear of the pool floor, it should be clean enough torestow.• Cleaning the pool. The cleaning facility should be kept as oil-free as possible. Sprayingthe liner with solvent and hot water between cleaning boom sections keeps excess oil toa minimum. Before the next boom sections are put in, the pool should be emptied byvacuum trucks. Liquid pumped from the cleaning pool must be disposed of properlyand documentation must be prepared to satisfy, federal, state and local requirements.These procedures should be addressed in the cleaning plan as a part of any demobilization.• Restowing the boom. The crane moves the suspended boom sections away from thecleaning pool to a clean area where the boom is repalletized or restowed in containersfor shipment back to the storage area. Forklifts are helpful for moving the re-packagedboom sections to their shipping destination.4-6.2.1 Cleaning Equipment. High-pressure hot water generators are mandatory for removingoil. Cleaning heavy oil residues requires water and solvent mixtures heated above 120°F at pressuresof 2,000 to 3,000 psi. Many different types of solvents that are available cut oil efficiently.The ratio of solvent to water is usually very low.Before applying high-pressure water, cleaning solvent should be sprayed directly onto the boomand the boom scrubbed briskly with stiff brushes. The scrubbing process breaks the oil down formore efficient water cleaning.Solvent and high-pressure water remove most of the oily residue. However, there is no substitutefor manual scrubbing to remove oil—especially when tension or ballast chain is oily.4-6.2.2 Cleaning Safety Precautions. Many solvents are hazardous to personnel involved in thecleaning or can be destructive to the boom fabric. Some solvents may require respiratory equipmentas well as full suits of protective rubberized clothing, boots and gloves.OSHA requires Material Safety Data Sheets (MSDS) to be posted at the cleaning site. The hazardsand minimal protective requirements are listed on the MSDS. As cleaning boom requires personnelto work with hazardous substances, they must receive training on respiratory protection,MSDS information and safe cleaning techniques and procedures.Figure 4-17 is a sample MSDS sheet. Appendix F contains MSDSs with information on some ofthe more common fuels.4-27