Abstract
Recovering heavy oil spilled in a harsh environment is challenging especially when dealing with cold marine environments, where sea ice or high sea states are present. The current technology is based on removing oil from the water surface, meanwhile a significant amount of oil particles could remain in the water column due to turbulent ocean conditions and the density of heavy oil. Therefore, in order to enhance the mechanical recovery of heavy oil, capturing oil particles dispersed in the water column is very important. It has been observed that air bubbles can create an upward water flow and thus enhance the flotation of suspended oil particles. The oil floating at surface can then be removed using conventional skimmers. The present paper focuses on developing a lab-scale test program and Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) simulation for an enhanced oil spill recovery system and presents the preliminary test results performed at C-CORE. Both stationery and advancing modes of the oil spill recovery system with attached air diffusers were tested. Preliminary test results indicate that the heavy oil recovery ratio can be significantly improved by using air bubbles for oil flotation.
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