**3.1 Oil containment booms**

The main function of the oil spill containment boom is "to close" the oil spill and to prevent from further spreading and floating oil to larger surface. It helps protect coasts or precious ecosystems from contamination. An oil containment boom represents a physical barrier that will ensure the containment and concentration of floating oil contaminants to enable their collection. It is usually the first resource to be deployed and the last to be removed when solving an accident [1, 14].

Oil containment booms come in many shapes, sizes, and lengths from smaller and lighter designed for manual use to deal with smaller leaks to robust, huge ones designed for use on the open sea using ships and ship cranes (**Figures 3** and **4**). In general, they all consist of the following basic parts [14].

• freeboard floating above the water surface contains the oil and prevents from slash-over

**Figure 3.** *Use of the oil containment boom [28].*

**Figure 4.** *The oil containment boom in a ship lock [14].*


The effectiveness of containment booms is significantly determined by the movement of water on the stream and the surrounding conditions (currents, waves, wind). The boom should be flexible enough to resist water movement and retain so much oil as possible [3, 14].
