What do you do when you have an oil spill? Especially, if that oil spill is in an area where you need to remove the oil quickly, for example, in a body of water? Read on for a very effective tool and how to use it.
If you need to remove oil or other hydro-carbon substances quickly from a watery surface, few tools are as effective as oil absorbent booms. What makes them work so well is that they can hold a great deal of oil while they're also very effective at repelling water.
And because of the fact that they repel water, they will float even when saturated -- after all, they only get saturated with oil, and oil is lighter than water.
What if the spill is on land? They can handle that as well. Essentially, they're like giant sponges that only soak up oil and other related substances, including diesel, gasoline, jet fuel, and kerosene, while repelling any water.
Is there anything they cannot be used on? Yes. Obviously, they won't work for water and other water-based liquids or chemicals. And they can't be used for acids and other aggressive fluids either.
The secret to the booms' great degree of absorbency is their filler, polypropylene, which is super absorbent. They usually are encased in a tough mesh skin, and have very sturdy nylon cords with metal clips, which can be used to connect a number of booms together. This makes retrieval of the booms very easy after they have absorbed their fill, or after they have cleaned up a spill area.
The booms tend to have a bright white color, which makes them easy to see and retrieve, and it also makes it easy to tell when they're full and need to be replaced. And they come in several sizes, generally in a diameter of 5 or 8 inches, and in lengths of 10 or 20 feet.
Because of their modular size, they are very versatile, and it is easy to use just the right number of oil absorbent booms to contain almost any size oil spill at hand. This makes them a very economic option for oil spill clean-up.
Want to know more about oil absorbent booms? Travis Zdrazil, an expert on environmental safety products, has supplied businesses with industrial strength absorbent products for more than 10 years. Sign up for his free newsletter at http://www.absorbentsonline.com for valuable tips and the latest news on absorbent and other environmental safety products. You may publish this article, but must include the resource box. ©2009 PCI Products Company. All rights reserved. |
