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

S0300-A6-MAN-060Figure 5-7. Hydrocyclone.• Inorganic materials, such as vermiculite or volcanic ash.• Synthetics, such as polypropylene fiber.• Natural organic materials such as peat, cotton, pine bark, etc.Sorbent performance is defined as the ratio of the weight of oil picked up to the weight of the sorbent.Table 5-2 describes some of the available sorbents.Use of sorbents is generally manpower-intensive—sorbents are generally distributed by hand.The sorbent is left in contact with the oil long enough to become saturated with oil before it is collected—again,usually by hand. Belt skimmers will recover floating sorbent as debris which mustbe manually removed. Towed nets can collect large quantities of oil-soaked sorbent which canthen be removed from the water by hand or mechanical grab. Sorbents that sink must be left longenough to collect oil, but not long enough to sink. Like skimmers, the recovery rate of sorbentsdiminishes as the oil layer thins. Oil should be contained to thicken the oil layer and increaserecovery rate.5-9