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Abstract: Oil spill recovery by means of a rotating drum skimmer was investigated experimentally for a
wide range of design and operating conditions. The effect of drum diameter, drum length, rotating speed, oil
lm thickness, oil properties, and drum centre height above the oil/water interface surface were analyzed
with respect to oil recovery rate of the drum skimmer. Crude, diesel, SAE 10 W and SAE 140 W oils were
used during this investigation. It was found that oil recovery rate increases with increasing drum diameter,
drum length, drum centre height above the oil/water interface, and oil slick thickness oil viscosity, and
increases as oil density and surface tension decreases. The results revealed that the drum skimmer is an
effective device for recovering spills of low viscosity oil, such as light crude oil, which is the type of oil
involved in most serious spills and pollutions of the sea. Furthermore, an empirical equation is proposed for
predicting the oil recovery rate of the device. The equation can be applied to different oils, and gives good
agreement with observed data.
Keywords: drum skimmer, oil recovery rate, oil spills, marine pollution
proved to be among the best alternatives for quick response, The objective of the present study was to investigate
as concluded by Tsocalis et al. [2]. The skimmers are the performance characteristics of the drum skimmer in
designed to recover oil from the water surface using the oil recovery under a wide range of operating conditions.
adhesive property of their surfaces, whether disk, belt, Extensive experimental work has been carried out under
brush, or drum in conguration. In the case of the drum controlled conditions in order to collect ample oil recovery
skimmer, which is partially submerged below the oil/water data. The collected data were used to obtain an empirical
interface surface, as the skimmer is rotated through the oil equation useful in the prediction of oil spill recovery rate.
slick, oil adheres to the drum surface and is recovered by a
scraper into a central collector where it is pumped to
containment equipment. 2 EXPERIMENTAL APPARATUS AND
Over the last two decades Turner and his group presented PROCEDURE
extensive studies towards understanding and improving the
hydrodynamic performance of disk skimmers [3–9]. Figure 1 shows the general features of the test rig used in the
Recently, Hammoud and Khalil presented several studies on present investigation. The apparatus consists of a rectangu-
the hydrodynamics of both disk and belt skimmers [10–12]. lar water reservoir (1) of dimensions 0.60 6 0.6 6 1.00 m
The drum skimmer was one of the very rst mechanical made of Plexiglas and built inside a rigid steel frame (2).
methods used and is one of the simplest that can be applied The drum (3) dimensions are of 200, 250, and 300 mm
to recover oil or oil–water mixtures from the sea surface. diameter, with lengths of 450, 300 and 200 mm, respec-
Although drum skimmers are used for oil recovery, tively. Each drum was mounted separately on the shaft in a
published information about their hydrodynamic perfor- xed position using two 50-mm diameter steel washers and
mance is limited. screw bolts. The shaft (4) is connected through one of its
In a study carried out by Environment Canada [13], free ends to a variable speed motor (6) via a V-belt and
counter-rotating drums were used to investigate the effect pulley arrangement (7). The shaft rotational speed was
of drum speed and the gap between the drums on the oil regulated through a variable frequency inverter (8) (Hitachi
recovery, rate for two types of oil. This study reported that, 4SB) used with the motor.
at drum speeds greater than 10 rpm, turbulence occurred in Each drum has its own scraper. The scraper (9) is made of
the region between the two drums and caused a build-up of Plexiglas, having exible rubber in the drum contact area.
emulsied oil of up to 12 cm thick. It was stated that the gap The scraper length is 100 mm longer than the corresponding
width between the drums had a minor effect on oil recovery drum length. The scraper is mounted with an inclination of
rate. In 1993, a dual drum skimmer was tested under 5¯ with respect to the horizontal to wipe the oil. A guide bar
controlled calm wave and current conditions at xed slick (10) is used to adjust the inclination of the scraper. The
thickness to determine the effect of drum rotational speed on scraped oil is directed to the collecting tank (12) through a
oil recovery rate [14]. It was concluded that the rate of tray (11).
maximum oil recovery is dependent on drum rpm and oil The water reservoir was lled with water up to a certain
viscosity. For low viscosity oil, maximum oil recovery rate level indicated by a graduated scale of 1 mm accuracy on
occurs at a higher speed than for high viscosity oil. In one side of the tank away from the rotating drum.
addition, oil recovery rate increases with oil thickness for Oil of controlled volume was poured on the water
both low and high viscosity oils. Furthermore, oil recovery surface. Oil slick thickness was measured using the grad-
rate decreases with wave height for both low and high uated scale and then compared with the calculated value
viscosity oil and increases with current velocity. The based on oil volume divided by cross-sectional area of the
double drum simply offers a greater surface for skimming water tank. Both methods gave the same oil lm thickness
and consequently a larger oil recovery rate. with an accuracy of 5 per cent for oil lm thickness (t)
Lorenzo et al. [15] investigated experimentally the perfor- equal to or more than 20 mm, and 10 to 20 per cent for
mance of single and double drum skimmers for various t º 10 mm or below. Crude oil, diesel fuel, SAE 10 W and
viscosities of emulsied and non-emulsied oils, with drum SAE 140 W were used during this investigation. The
speed varying between 35 and 44 rpm. They indicated that drum used in this study is made of PVC, and its
oil recovery rate and recovery efciency increase with oil selection is based on a previous study by Hammoud and
viscosity. Khalil [11].
Finally, the performance of a drum skimmer during the Before each run, the oil lm thickness and the drum
recovery of oil spill oating on the water surface is depen- height above the water/oil interface surface were measured.
dent on a large number of parameters and needs more However, in order to keep the oil lm thickness constant
thorough investigation. In addition, the available studies during the experiment, the stored oil in the compensating
were performed on commercial oils that do not have any tank (13) was poured above the water reservoir surface
bearing on what is actually found in oil spill situations. For through a manual control valve (14).
that reason the main focus of the present study was on crude During the experimental programme, the oil lm thickness
oil since it is the one that is involved in most of the serious was varied from 10 to 40 mm through the variation of oil
spills and pollutions of the seas. volume poured over the water surface in the water reservoir.
Proc. Instn Mech. Engrs Vol. 217 Part E: J. Process Mechanical Engineering
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PERFORMANCE OF A ROTATING DRUM SKIMMER IN OIL SPILL RECOVERY 51
The height of the drum axis over the oil–water surface At a xed oil thickness, the rotational speed was varied
interface was varied by varying the water level inside the from 20 to 75 rpm. However, in order to estimate random
reservoir by adding or draining a controlled volume of water. error (repeatability), each reading of oil recovery rate was
At the end of each experiment, the oil from the collecting repeated three times and the average value for each para-
tank (12) was returned to the compensating tank (13). meter was recorded. Measurements are estimated to be
In a manner similar to that applied by Khalil and accurate to within §0.5 per cent for rotational speed and
Hammoud [10–12], the oil recovery rate and the oil §2.5 per cent for oil recovery rate. All tests were carried
recovery efciency were recorded . The volume and the out at an approximately constant temperature of ¹27 ¯ C
weight of the collected skimmed mixture (oil and water) and data was collected after the steady-state condition was
during a specic recovery time (1 min) and at a certain attained. The types and properties of oil used in this
oil lm thickness were measured. This mixture was left for investigation are presented in Table 1.
24 h in a graduated cylindrical vessel away from the
experimental apparatus to ensure complete separation
between water and oil. The volume of both oil and water 3 VISUAL INVESTIGATION OF OIL FLOW
was then obtained from measurements and from calcula-
tions by comparing mixture, oil, and water densities. Both
The rst step in the experimental study consisted of visual
methods gave the same values for Voil and Vwater. The oil
investigations to examine the movement of the oil lm over
recovery rate was then calculated by dividing the net oil
the water surface in the vicinity of a drum. Figures 2(a) and
volume (Voil) by the recovery time, then the oil recovery
2(b) present typical results obtained from these investiga-
efciency was obtained by dividing the oil volume by the
tions. In Fig. 3, traces of the oil streamlines shown in
total volume of the mixture (Vtotal), that is oil recovery
Fig. 2(a) were used to indicate the oil ow patterns over
efciency ˆ (Voil/Vtotal) 6 100 per cent. The preliminary
the water surface generated due to drum rotation. A digital
experiments indicated that the oil recovery efciency was
video camera was used to record the oil collection process
in excess of 92 per cent.
and then photos were traced into streamlines using the
AutoCAD program.
The photographs indicate an interesting feature. Oil
Table 1 Properties of oil used at 27¯ C collection occurs symmetrically on either side of the down-
Density Surface Viscosity ward moving part of the drum as shown in Fig. 3. In
Oil type (kg/m3) tension (N/m) (N s/m2) addition, it can be observed that the attached oil lm,
Diesel oil 825 4.188 6 10¡2 2.6 6 10¡3 which is drawn below the water surface, is carried through
Heavy oil 140 W 900.5 16.75 6 10¡2 2.2071 the water body as the drum rotates and some oil droplets
Crude oil 839 2.094 6 10¡2 2.65 6 10¡2 move radially outward and are thrown off into the water
Light oil 10 W 840 6.28 6 10¡2 4.5 6 10¡2
body. This depended on the rotating speed. This behaviour
E01202 # IMechE 2003 Proc.onInstn
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7, 2016 Engrs Vol. 217 Part E: J. Process Mechanical Engineering
52 A H HAMMOUD AND M F KHALIL
Fig. 12 Effect of oil type on oil recovery rate, d ˆ 300 mm, L ˆ 450 mm, t ˆ 30 mm
By applying the Buckingham p theorem, this equation An advantage of this equation is that it can be applied to a
can be arranged as wide range of drum diameters, drum lengths, rotating
speeds, oil lm thicknesses, oil properties, and drum
q ˆ f (Re; We; H ; T ) (2) centre heights. Because it has an acceptable value of relative
average error of 17.32 per cent, the equation can be applied
where q ˆ normalized ow rate ˆ Q/(o ¢ d ¢ t ¢ L), Re ˆ to the design and operational stages of drum skimmers to get
Reynolds number ˆ r ¢ o ¢ d2/m, We ˆ Weber number ˆ quick, reasonable, and reliable values.
r ¢ o2 ¢ d3/s, T ˆ normalized oil lm thickness ˆ t/d, and Finally, an expression for the oil recovery rate Q can be
H ˆ normalized drum centre height ˆ h/d. obtained from equation (4) as
In this study, the functional form in equation (2) is
assumed to be a power equation: Q ˆ 0:026521
o1:23 £ d 1:75 £ h0:17 £ t0:1 £ L £ m0:65 3
q ˆ K ¢ Rea ¢ Web ¢ H g ¢ T z (3) £ m /s
r0:21 £ s0:44
The constants in equation (3) are determined from the
collected experimental data for the three oils (crude, diesel Note: units for all parameters in the equation should be S.I.
and SAE 10 W). A regression analysis of the functional units.
relationship given in equation (3) leads to
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