A number of commercially available oil spill sorbents were tested using three different petroleum products and two hydrocarbonsolvents. The petroleum products were aged for periods of oneand seven days; the solvents were used without aging. Sorbentswere evaluated for initial and maximum capacity, water pickup andthe number of reuses in each test liquid. The synthetic sorbentsgenerally exhibited higher capacities and greater reuse potentialthan the organic materials tested. Decreasing the oil layerthickness decreased the sorbent capacity and usually increasedthe extent of water pickup. Capacities for the two hydrocarbonsolvents were similar to those observed for diesel.

"Twenty-one oil spill sorbents were laboratory tested via immersion in three different petroleum products aged for one and seven days. The synthetic sorbents generally exhibited higher initial and maximum capacities with the foam synthetics having the highest capacities. Potential reuse was also much greater for the synthetics than for the other sorbents"--Abstract.

In 1974, Environment Canada initiated an ongoing program to evaluate commercially available oil sorbents. Many new sorbents have been introduced to the market since the first study. Twelve new sorbents and four sorbents from the previous study (for comparison) were evaluated in this study, which is the fourth update of the original study. The test liquids used include diesel, crude, and Bunker C oils; and cyclohexane and toluene solvents. Some of the test liquids were aged for one to seven days. The sorbents were evaluated for initial and maximum capacities, water pickup, and reuse potential.