Method and installation of effluent recovery at sea by using a shuttle reservoir

摘要

The shuttle reservoir has a collecting (2A) and a deploying (2B) form. It is repeatedly lowered to the seabed (7) in its collecting form, where it connects to an evacuation device (6) in the hull (6) of the damaged vessel and is filled and sealed shut. Integral floatation devices lift it to a surface vessel in its deployed form, where it is emptied or stored for transportation to shore : The evacuation device (6) contains a pipe and a first valve acting with an opening in the hull and/or the vessel to recover the effluents by lifting them into the evacuation device. The shuttle reservoir has at least one main internal orifice (5) which works with the evacuation device. These steps are repeated with the same shuttle reservoir until the required amount of effluent has been recovered. The shuttle reservoir has a rigid dome with an open base, a rigid, flat, circular base and a flexible side wall which can be folded up into the filling position and unfolding as it fills to the deployed shape. The floatation elements are integral inside the dome and are preferably a syntactic mousse. The centre of buoyancy is above the apparent centre of gravity in the water. The reservoir can be moved by floating it into a submersible bridge vessel without having to lift it. The shuttle reservoir is held near the sunken vessel by an anchor cable to the seabed and a second anchor cable to the vessel. The reservoir has a second orifice and valve and contains an internal flexible fine mesh pouch to confine viscous elements.