Development of Boat and Helicopter Deployable Oil Slick Sampler.

摘要

MARCONSULT,Inc.,has developed a device for the sampling of water-borne oil films ranging from 0.001to 10mm in thickness. The prototype device is a modified stainless steel testing sieve,normally used in sediment size analysis,into which is placed a sheet of sorbent material. The sampler is suspended from a cable or chain harness and is dipped into an oil slick;the oil film adheres to the stainless steel sieve screen and is absorbed by the sorbent sheet. After retrieval,the sampler is immediately sealed with a clean lid and bottom pan to prevent contamination of the oil sample,and thereby also becomes its own sample container. The results of a limited testing program indicate that the device will collect in excess of the required 50ml of oil from fresh,thick films,but that samples of five to ten milliliters are more typical of very thin or weathered oil films.