INTRCOITCTION 



Oil pollution of inshore waters caused by deliberate or accidental 

 discharges of oil and oily refuses from ships, refineries, and various 

 industrial plants is a problem of major importance for the conservation 

 of our aquatic resources. Aside from being destructive to aquatic animals 

 and plants and a great nuisance to such recreational activities as boating, 

 bathing, and fishing, oil and other organic licfuids floating on the sur- 

 face of the water present a serious fire hazard, especially around piers 

 and other structures built of creosoted wood. It has been recorded numerous 

 times that sparks from welding operations have started serious fires of 

 oil slicks in harbors and that ship repairs have had to be delayed until 

 the oil floating on the surface has been removed. 



After a damaging fire at the Norfolk Naval Shipyard, resulting from 

 the accidental ignition of oil floating on the water, the Chemical 

 Laboratory of the shipyard undertook a comprehensive study of the existing 

 methods of removal of oil slicks and began a search for better ones. A 

 description of this review and a proposal of a new and apparently highly 

 satisfactory method developed by this laboratory are given in its report 

 of October 10, 1945 (Chemical Laboratory, Norfolk Naval Shipyard, 1945). 



In searching for a substance that would be suitably hydrophobic and 

 organophilio, the experimenters of the United States Navy found that a 

 carbonized sand met their requirements. This material can be prepared 

 simply and cheaply by roasting creosote oil and sand in a revolving 

 kiln-type of furnace at a temperatiare of approximately 700° F. By using 

 air pressijre the o«u*bonized sand is sprayed on the surface of an oil 

 .slick on water or on pilings and docks. Caning in contact with oil, the 

 carbon coating of the sand forms a stable bond with the oil. The mixture 

 may then be readily removed. If on the surface of the water, the combined 

 sand and oil may be sunk by a stream of water under pressure from a hose 

 or by some other method of agitation. The bonding of the oil and carbon 

 surface of the sand is permanent and an oil slick thus treated remains 

 anchored on the bottom* 



Details of the development of this method, including the descriptions 

 of manufacturing units, means of application, and the results of the two 

 field tests, are given in the report of the Chemical Laboratory of the 

 Norfolk Naval Shipyard (1947), A popular account and graphic story of 

 this new way of removal of oil slicks appeared in "Life* (1947, Vol, 23, 

 No, 19), The caption to one of the photographs accompanying this article 

 stated that the submerged sludge "is lethal to most marine life," Since 

 there was no corroborative evidence of the toxicity of oil bound by 

 carbonized sand, the United States Navy, through its Bureau of Ships, 

 asked the cooperation of the Fish eind Wildlife Service in a study of this 

 problem. The present report summarizes tJie results of the experiments 

 conducted by the authors in compliance with this reouest. 



