Monark Boat Delivers Oil Recovery Vessel For Use On Lake Maracaibo

new oil recovery vessel was recently delivered to the owners, The Lake Committee, Lake Maracaibo, La Salina, Venezuela. Designed by Centrifugal Systems, Inc. of Houston, Texas, and built by Monark Boat Company, Monticello, Ark., the Marlimpia is a catamaran type, self-propelled, 28-ton aluminum vessel.

The oil-recovery system, exclusively designed and built by Centrifugal Systems, Inc., consists of four 12-inch-diameter Petro Mops with the puller-wringer and return pulley assemblies ; the Weir r e c o v e r y s y s t em ; dispersant agent with monitors; and 500 linear feet of 18-inch oil containment boom.

The Petro Mop system used on the Marlimpia is able to recover a maximum of 600 barrels of spilled oil per hour and the Weir System, 250 barrels per hour. The vessel is 48 feet length overall, with 17 feet : i s inches width overall.

The tunnel between the hulls is more than 6 feet.

Propelled by two Detroit Diesel 6-71M's, the M a r l i m p i a easily cruised at 20 knots down the Mississippi River on her maiden voyage to New Orleans f o r shipment.

Daniel F. Young, Inc. arranged the lift and deck shipment to Venezuela.

The GM 3-71 72-kw generator set provides electric power to the auxiliary machinery and reclaimed oil tanks' heating system.

The heating system allows the viscosity of the reclaimed oil to be lowered before being offloaded.

The auxiliary machinery includes electrohydraulic systems for powering the puller-wringer, Weir, Petro Mop return system, and a telescopic hydraulic Hap- 610 crane of 4,000 pounds at 10- foot-reach capacity located midship.

The crane was installed for deploying and retrieving the oil containment boom. However, a hydraulic crane aboard a stable work platform, such as this vessel, has many other uses in an emergency situation in the offshore energy industry.

The Marlimpia has the equipment to fight fires on offshore platforms and other vessels. Its two Elkhart 21L>-inch fire monitors include fire-foam eductors with a maximum reach of 140 feet. The fire monitors also serve as dispersant applicators, applying Exxon Chemical Company's Corexit 9527 oil dispersant as permitted on Lake Maracaibo.

The dispersant is blended with sea water by a variable proportional injector pump before being applied to the oil slick. Dispersant application rates can be varied from near zero to as much as 15 U.S. gallons per acre. The system automatically sets the correct amount of sea water for the selected d i s p e r s a n t application rate and vessel speed.

Further, the vessel is equipped with a dedicated system to apply Ergon's Oil Herder, an oil col- lecting agent, f r om the port and/ or starboard bow.

A 100-barrel-capacity heated reclaimed oil stowage tank is integrated in each pontoon of the catamaran hull.

The vessel is equipped with all the necessary navigational equipment, consisting of two radios— one Raytheon RAY 58A VHFFM, one Raytheon RAY 1209CSSB over-the-horizon communicator, 100-w; and a depth sounderrecorder, Raytheon model DE- 719B, with a Raytheon 724A model transducer.

This vessel is the second to be fitted with the Petro Mop system.

The first was the Limpiamar, also owned by The Lake Committee.

Both vessels operate on the zerorelative velocity (ZRY) principle, i.e. the mops are stationary, or move very slowly, with respect to the water's surface. The operating speed of the vessel can be as much as four knots and maintain the ZRV. The positioning of the mops on the water's surface is controlled by a hydraulically powered return system.

With this unique hydraulic return system, the mops can be properly positioned to reclaim oil from relatively rough seas, flotsam and debris, and ice floes.

Field experience indicates up to 98 percent efficiency in recovering floating oil under less than ideal conditions. The oil has varied in gravity from API 16° to API 42° in actual operations. Ambient temperatures have been tropical in all operations.

At the present, more vessels using similar systems as in the Limpiamar and Marlimpia are being designed by Centrifugal Systems, Inc. f o r delivery in 1982.

Centrifugal Systems, Inc. is a Houston company oriented in oil spill machinery for picking up or dispersing oil spills.