An assessment of the Mackay apparatus for testing oilspill dispersants

The successful use of chemical dispersants for treating oilspills requires advance information of product effectiveness, such information being necessary for stock piling in contingency planning. Many existing quality tests are unrepresentative of the conditions at sea. Here, a new method of testing oilspill dispersants is described and compared with a standard Warren Spring Laboratory test for effectiveness. Results show that, although similar in its ability to rank dispersants, the Mackay test could also prove useful for observational work on dispersant/oil/water mixtures and control of mousse formation.