UK-Norwegian collaboration to advance oil spill technology

Technology suppliers around the world were challenged to come up with new ideas and last month Vikoma was chosen as one of the first of four projects, from over 170 submissions . Mike King, managing director of Vikoma International said, ‘It’s very exciting for two globally recognised leaders in the spill sector to be working together on this project. We believe the research will lead to a new generation of oil containment and recovery technology.’

Vikoma’s submission proposes a completely new concept for a continuous oil recovery system that can be used in fast current environments and large swells, currently far outside of the capability of any existing boom systems.

Hans V. Jensen, head of R&D at NOFO added, ‘The project that Vikoma International Ltd has on the drawing board is particularly exciting. The British company aims to develop an oil boom that can be towed significantly faster than the booms currently in use.’

Vikoma will work with the Wolfson Unit to test theories and models, using computational fluid dynamics (CFD) and advanced flow visualisation techniques, before potentially developing a prototype system for testing by NOFO.

The development programme Oil Spill Response 2010 or ‘Oljevern 2010’, operated by NOFO, has a significant budget to bring new products into the market. The priority of the programme is to develop new and improved oil recovery technology that can operate in higher seas and stronger currents than equipment currently on the market.