TIP 8 — USE OF SORBENT MATERIALS IN OIL SPILL RESPONSE

This technical information paper is devoted to the application of sorbent when responding to the oil spills from ships. Sorbents are capable of providing a very useful resource allowing spilt oil to be recovered and this is practical in cases where other techniques are unsuitable or unavailable.

However, sorbent materials should be used moderately in order to minimize possible secondary problems, especially when excessive amounts of waste is created - this can significantly add to the overall costs of spill response. In the pages of the present document the types of available sorbent materials are considered together with the ways of their application during the response.

The content of the booklet should better be read with the other releases in this series especially those dealing with the use of skimmers, booms, and shoreline clean-up techniques plus the technical paper addressing the oil and debris disposal.

Oil sorbent materials include a very broad range of products that are normally designed to be used for the oil recovery. The configuration and composition of sorbents depends upon the materials in use and proposed application. They shall be used with care to minimize their excessive and/or inappropriate use that would present various logistical difficulties.