Best Management Practices dictate that any business that poses a hazard to the environment undertake safety measures to prevent these hazards from causing the environment any harm. The baseline provisions of the Clean Water Act of the US serve as guidelines in the application of the BMPs by both private and government corporations engaged in businesses that involve environmentally harmful materials. These provisions protect the integrity of the country's water supply or natural bodies of water. To comply with these provision, industrial companies normally put in place spill response mechanisms that ensure that none of the environmentally harmful materials will accidentally find their way to the country's waterways.
Oil absorbents are the most common components in most spill kits. All spill cleanup pads and rolls are oil absorbent and capable of soaking up hydrocarbons such as oil, fuel oil, gasoline, and lubricant oil. Absorbent pads as universals, oil only, and hazmat are oil absorbents. Various materials and design are used in manufacturing these absorbents depending on the intended use for spill cleanup. Those oil absorbents that are for oil spills alone are manufactured differently from those that are used for chemical spills and unknown liquid spills.
Some of the widely available absorbent pads and rolls are:
1. Universal Maintenance Absorbent Pads - these pads are manufactured of lint-free spund bond fabric and meltblown polypropylene sorbent that are ultrasonically bonded to each other. It comes in a gray color that enables it to mask dirt. These pads can be reused after wringing out the absorbed liquid. These can be used in everyday maintenance tasks like repairs and small spills. Among those liquids other than oil that can be absorbed by these oil absorbents are water-based fluids and other chemicals.
2. Economy Oil Absorbent Pads and Roll - these oil absorbents are capable of soaking up only oil and oil-based fluids. It is made of one layer of hydrophobic oil only polypropylene with a stacked weave design to increase surface area and make it more effective in soaking up small oil spills. These pads and rolls are bright white in color, making it easy to see if they are already fully saturated with oil. These pads can be used in land and water oil spillages.
3. Anti-Static Absorbent Pads and Roll - aside from being good oil absorbents, these pads and rolls are good protection for oil spill cleanups in areas where sparking is a possibility. These are made from one layer of oil only meltdown polypropylene pad that is specially treated. These absorb all oils and hydrocarbons. These are used for spill cleanups of fuels that could be volatile in cold, dry, and low humidity areas. Spill cleanups of gasoline, diesel, and lubricating oils are among the proper uses of these oil absorbents.
4. Boat Bilge Boom - these mesh sleeve encased poly sock skins filled with polypropylene are highly absorbent. Since the filling has a double layer of outer covering, it will not shed and will not sink. These booms are often used in boats to absorb engine oil as well as any other hydrocarbon that might come its way.
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