We developed mimetic materials for oil spill drills of the Korean Coast Guard. Two selection criteria were adopted: physical properties and eco-friendliness. To make the drill effective, a mimetic substance candidate must have similar physical properties to crude oil, in terms of buoyancy, transportability, and significant color contrast. To minimize the possible impact on the marine environment in general and marine industry in particular, it must also be eco-friendly and non-toxic, as a major portion tends to be evaded from cleaning/capturing devices. Considering these, therefore, we selected natural oils extracted from marine biomass and presented results obtained from lab evaluations and field tests.
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2014