How Marine Absorbent Booms Work

Oil spills in bodies of water have very harmful effects on the marine ecosystem and human health. Containing and cleaning up the spill can take a long time and a lot of effort. To respond to the spill quickly, a marine spill kit is needed. A marine spill kit contains different kinds of components that help spill response personnel clean up the spill efficiently. It contains absorbent sweeps, oil nets, and skimmers.

Some of the most important items in a marine spill kit are absorbent booms. This component is used to contain and absorb oil or fuel on water. It is usually an orange or white tube-like inflatable floating device that is placed offshore or very close to a coastline. An absorbent boom creates a literal barrier which oil cannot pass through since it will be absorbed upon contact.

Absorbent Properties of Booms

An absorbent boom can attract oil using three mechanisms: wetting properties, capillary action and cohesion. For its wetting properties to allow successful absorption, the oil should easily wet the absorbent boom and spread over its material.

For some absorbent booms, absorption happens via capillary action. This is when the viscosity of oil affects the rate of penetration as the boom absorbs it. For cohesion, absorbent booms rely on both the adhesion of the oil to the boom and the cohesive properties of the oil that allows great quantities to be retained by the sorbent.

Marine Absorbent Booms by Argyle

Argyle has a broad range of marine absorbents which include sweeps, spaghetti booms, marine booms and double booms. The booms are one of the several components in our 240L and 660L marine spill response kits that are fully packed with all the essential equipment needed to respond to an oil spill quickly. You can easily link our booms together using snap-hook joiners to whatever length you need.

For more information on our absorbent booms, call 1800 006 099.