Oil Skimmers

Oil skimmers are remediation devices used to remove oil from the surface of water, solvents, cleaning solutions, and other fluids. There are two basic types of oil skimmers. One type is used to filter and remove oil, debris, and unwanted materials. The other type is used to recover or capture oil in a usable state. Typically, this second type of skimmer is used to clean up oil spills in factories, refineries, and bodies of water. Applications for oil skimmers include in-plant pumps, tanks, and coolant systems as well as outdoor cooling and settling ponds. When selecting oil skimmers, important specifications to consider include capacity, removal or recovery rate, and total flow. When capacity is measured in gallons, flow is measured in gallons per minute (gpm) and the removal or recovery rate is expressed in gallons per hour (gph).