The photo is sourced from atommedia.online
The essence of the new method is “burning out” the spilled oil from the water surface using the laser at the distance of up to 300 metres. The new method was tested using the mobile laser complex located on the deck of a cargo ship. To imitate the spillage, they used the floater consisting of the wooden carcass and the attached sheets of expanded polystyrene. The top of the floater was made of the asphalt felt sheets covered with a mix of crude oil and bitumen with high viscosity (to prevent the mix getting into the sea). After all the preparations were completed, the participants of the test set the combustible mix on fire using the laser machine from the distance of 300 m.
“The trial tests showed that using laser technology for oil film elimination from the water surface may become a very promising method of emergency spills liquidation in the Arctics, where biological methods cannot be used due to low temperatures, and ice interferes with the operation of the oil skimmer vessels. Russian laser will allow for safer and quicker elimination of spills”, the Media Centre of Rosatom is citing Kirill Ilyin, the General Director of the Troitsk Institute of innovative and thermonuclear research.
Oil pipelines leakages often are the sources of oil and petroleum products spillages, and special sensor systems are used to prevent them. For example, the Direct-C company developed three types of such sensors: the first one (WrapSense) is an “extender” fixed along the pipe and transmitting the signal of leakage via the Internet of Things. The second type of the sensor (SubSense) transmits the notification signal when the liquid flows to the surface of the earth, it is installed under the pipe. The third type (BermSense) was designed to control the petroleum products signs in the berms – the artificial protective space for localising spillages of oil, chemicals and petroleum products.
