A rope mop skimmer is an example of an adhesion skimmer. Viscosity of the oil being recovered is a major determinant of skimmer effectiveness. The oil flows over the top of the weir and into the skimmer where it collects. The GT-185 Skimmer shown below and the Desmi Ocean Skimmer shown deployed from a vessel are examples of weir skimmers. Skimmer A special type of weir skimmer is the weir-boom skimmer in which weirs are built into the floating boom.
Oil enters the weirs and is pumped from the weirs via an oil tube to recovery tanks.
An example is the Vikoma 3-Weir Boom. Suction skimmers are similar to weir skimmers. Sometimes the skimmer simply consists of a simple suction head attached to the end of a vacuum hose. To view a drawing of a Vacuum System click here. You can also view a picture of a vacuum truck.