Oil Spill Equipment Glossary

Oil Containment boom

Foam filled booms are lightweight and inexpensive. They are typically used for inland and sheltered waters sometimes referred to as “contractor or response boom”. They are made in PVC or Urethane with round or flat floats. Booms with rectangular floats allow the boom to be wound onto a reel allowing for rapid deployment.

Booms with rectangular floats are referred to as fence boom, whereas booms with cylindrical floats are called curtain booms. Curtain booms will have a higher buoyancy to weight ratio that fence booms which offers better response to waves and towing. Fence boom is not generally approved for towing or sweeping at sea. Curtain booms are more bulky to store and transport.

These booms are usually offered in overall sizes ranging from 18 inches / 450mm to 36 inches / 900mm. Recommended buoyancy to weight ratios and sizes according to sea conditions can be found in ASTM standard F1523

A choice of connectors are available for, details of which can be found in ASTM standards F962 & F2438. They are generally referred to as ASTM Slide or Quick ( Z) type connectors.

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