TEMPORARY STORAGE OF RECOVERED OIL

1.0 INTRODUCTION

Providing temporary storage for recovered oil is one of the most significant problems in any spill response effort. Many modern skimmers have the capability to recover oil at a very rapid rate, which often means that all available storage volume is filled very quickly. At this point the response effort comes to a halt. (A discussion of the issue of decanting free water from storage is contained in Appendix D, and the use of separators to improve fluid quality is contained in Chapter 4.)

For example, during the initial cleanup operations in Prince William Sound following the Exxon Valdez spill, many of the dedicated skimming vessels had a high recovery rate with very little on-board storage capacity. These skimmers filled their storage capacity in 20 to 30 minutes and then had to wait two to three hours to off-load. If skimmers have to go to a central location to off-load, even more time is lost in transit. It is desirable to have adequate storage capacity available at the skimmer, or, if this is not possible, have the central storage vessel, such as a barge, service the skimming vessels while they are on station. It should be pointed out that in the case of the Exxon Valdez spill the storage problem was particularly acute early in the spill when large amounts of free oil were being recovered and storage space was in short supply.

This section reviews the temporary storage alternatives that are available and classifies them according to their use; that is, Calm Water, Protected Water, or Open Water. Further, it suggests skimmer capacities that could be used with each device.

(Ten pages of text and references followed by fourteen pages of temporary storage data listings)