**3.2 Oil skimmers**

The next step in cleanup process after containing of oil spill is recovery of oil substances as much as possible from the water environment. Oil skimmers are intended for collecting oil from the water surface. Oil skimmers are devices floating on the surface and collecting oil substances [14, 29]. They consist of two parts—the device that keeps the oil skimmer on the surface and the collecting part itself. Depending on the conditions, especially the roughness of the surrounding water, self-propelled skimmers can be used, skimmers controlled from the shore or from the vessel. Based on the construction, we are talking about [29]:


The collected oil is usually stored in a containment tank or an additional temporary storage device is required. In some cases, it is necessary to heat the tanks in order to preserve the good ability of the collected oil to flow. The effectiveness of the oil recovery via a skimmer is determined by how quickly the skimmer can collect the oil and how well it minimizes the water–oil ratio [14]. The operation of skimmers can

*Possible Oil Spills Disposal for Environmental Water-Body Protection DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.107106*

**Figure 5.** *Weir oil skimmer [30].*

**Figure 6.** *Drum oil skimmer [31].*

significantly limit the occurrence of floating foreign material on the surface, e.g., branches, leaves, algae, grass, waste.
