New technology in oil content monitors

Journal Article · Wed Mar 01 04:00:00 EST 1989 · Nav. Eng. J.; (United States)

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1559-3584.1989.tb00692.x· OSTI ID:5894293

Nardella, J A; Stokes, G H

International antipollution requirements have been legislated to regulate the oil content of bilge effluent from ships. In response to these standards, the U.S. Navy is currently in the process of installing pollution equipment on all vessels. The equipment will consist of an oil-water separator in the bilge discharge line, followed by an oil content monitor which makes the final decision on whether or not the water is clean enough to be pumped overboard. The monitor is required to make a real-time measurement of oil concentration in the range 15 +- 5 to 100 +- 20 ppm for flow rates up to 50 gal/min. and possibly in the presence of interfering contaminants, such as rust. This paper presents the results of the current effort to develop a monitor which satisfies all of these requirements and is sufficiently rugged for fleet deployment. The monitor under development employs two fiber optic systems and a small microprocessor. The first optical system measures the concentration of particles in the flow as a function of their sizes, using small angle forward scattering. The second determines what percentage of the particles in the flow are oil, using large angle scattering. The microprocessor takes the data from the two optical systems and calculates the oil concentration in the flow. Since the particle size is measured by the monitor, no sample preparation is required and the monitor may be placed directly in the discharge line where it responds to changes in oil content in less than one second. In addition, this monitor can notify the operator of impending oil-water separator failure associated with passing large oil particles.

• Research Organization: Naval Sea Systems Command, Washington, DC (USA); Geo-Centers, Inc., Boston, MA (US)
• OSTI ID: 5894293
• Journal Information: Nav. Eng. J.; (United States), Journal Name: Nav. Eng. J.; (United States) Vol. 101:2; ISSN NVEJA
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

02 PETROLEUM
020900 -- Petroleum-- Environmental Aspects
42 ENGINEERING
424000* -- Engineering-- Pollution Control Equipment-- (1980-1989)
520200 -- Environment
Aquatic-- Chemicals Monitoring & Transport-- (-1989)
54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES
COMPUTERS
ELECTRONIC CIRCUITS
ENERGY SOURCES
ENVIRONMENTAL TRANSPORT
EQUIPMENT
FIBER OPTICS
FOSSIL FUELS
FUELS
MASS TRANSFER
MICROELECTRONIC CIRCUITS
MICROPROCESSORS
MONITORING
OIL SPILLS
OPTICAL SYSTEMS
PARTICLE SIZE
PETROLEUM
POLLUTION
POLLUTION CONTROL EQUIPMENT
REAL TIME SYSTEMS
SEAS
SIZE
SURFACE WATERS
TECHNOLOGY ASSESSMENT
WATER POLLUTION