HYDROCARBON RECOVERY SYSTEM

摘要

A skimming vessel (10) is provided for collecting hydrocarbons or other floating materials, from the surface of a body of water. The floating vessel (10) has an engine (42) driving a prop (41) and is provided with a skimming mode and a traveling mode. A dual skimmer system (17) is provided for skimming the surface of a body of water for collecting hydrocarbons from the surface of the water. The surface of the water is skimmed to capture the floating hydrocarbons by drawing the water through the skimmer (25) (26) with the vessel drive propeller (40) (41) when the vessel (10) is in its skimming mode and the block the passage of water through the skimmer (25) (26) when the vessel (10) is in its travel mode, so that the vessel drive is used to improve the removal of hydrocarbons from the surface of the body of water. The vessel (10) has a passageway or tunnel (34) (35) formed in the bottom thereof for the passage of water and has the prop (40) mounted in the tunnels (34) (35) for drawing water through the tunnels (34) (35) to pull water into the skimming system (17). The tunnel (34) (35) is blocked and the position of at least one skimmer (25) (26) is changed to switch the vessel (10) into a traveling mode for more rapid movement through the water. One or more tunnels (34) (35) can be utilized as desired in the bottom of the vessel (10). An oil/water separator (52) collects the skimmed water and hydrocarbons and separates the mixture. The skimmed oil/water mixture is fed into one tank (72) of a housing (71) having two tanks (72) (74) with a connecting passageway (73). The water then passes through the passageway (73) having a plurality of baffles (80) mounted therein and into the second tank (74). An oil outlet (83) allows the removal of separated oil from the top portion of the second tank (74) while a water outlet (84) allows the removal of water from the bottom portion of the second tank (74). A pair of check valves (77) (78) is mounted between the first tank (72) and the passageway (73).