Oil Recovery Bucket

The Finnish environment administration developed in the end of 1990s new oil response equipment called Oil Recovery Bucket. It was developed to collect oil from water surface, but it has it proved to be very efficient also in oil recovery onshore and in collecting oil in ice.

The working principle of the device

The working principle of the Oil Recovery Bucket is, that the oil adheres to the stiff, rotating brushes of the equipment. As the drum rotates, the oil is swept from the brushes and the oil enters the bucket. A screw pump transfers the oil to recovery tanks.

The Oil Recovery Bucket collected successfully oil among ice in March 2006 in Estonian waters after the sinking of 'Runner 4'.

Different modifications of the equipment

Three different sizes of the Oir Recovery Bucket exist: the smallest device has sweeping width of 60 cm, the medium size's sweeping width is 1.6 m and the largest has sweeping area of 3 metres. The two larger Oil Recovery Buckets can be connect to- and operated by - hydraulic crane or hydraulic excavator. The largest Oil Recovery Bucket is developed to be operated by an large oil recovery vessel's crane. The equipment has been tested also in a way that it has been connected to Aquamaster dredger.

The smallest Oil Recovery Bucket was developed to clean oil from soft soil areas - for example shore line cleaning. This version of the device is connected to a modified, remote controlled forest work vehicle.