Mechanism Investigation on a Novel Oil Recovery Skimmer Coupling Free Surface Vortex and Cyclone Separation

[Image: see text] In consideration of offshore oil spill accidents, a mechanical method is a kind of widely used treatment methods to recover spilled oil at sea. It also has the advantages of low cost, convenient use, and environmental friendliness. In order to improve the recovery efficiency and oil content of liquid recovered, a novel mechanical spilled oil recovery philosophy coupling surface vortex and hydrocyclone separation was proposed, and a small-scale prototype was manufactured. Medium crude from Bohai oil field was applied as spilled oil to test the recovery property of the prototype skimmer. The experiment results show that the novel skimmer is able to recover spilled oil effectively on the sea surface and speed up the process of recovery. Pressure of overflow pipe is sensitive to pump frequency, flow rate of inlet, and split ratio. In addition, oil content at the overflow port is influenced by spilled oil amount on the surface and split ratio. Besides, linear relationship is found between the recovery efficiency and the split ratio. The experimental study can provide a technical reference for the treatment of a small amount of spilled oil on the water surface and also has great significance for the design of spilled oil recovery equipment.