films. Dillingham suggests directing the oil's flow between two long parallel booms to provide a limited treatment area. The study recommends dynamic positioning of booms downwind from the source, far enough to avoid interference with salvage operations. Boom-towing vessels would move only enough to maintain the booms in proper position relative to the source and each other. There should be only a small angle (maximum 20° to 30°) between a boom's direction and the direction of oil flow, to minimize drift of oil under the booms. Treatment. Treatment of oil within the boom channel would involve absorption, sinking, or chemical dispersion, carried out from barges at the upwind end. Turbulence to improve mixing would be given by continuous maneuvering of small vessels within the channel area. Straw could be applied from the barges at the upwind end, and recovered as an oil/straw mixture at the downwind end with a special net. When the net is full, the two boats would pull it to a barge for pickup of oil/straw, and another pair of boats with a net between them would take over. The oil/straw mixture could be disposed of on land by various means. Estimated average cost for use of the straw absorbent method would be about $18 per barrel of oil spilled. Dillingham estimates that sinking oil with stearate-treated chalk could be used instead, if environmental requirements were met, at a cost of $44 per barrel. Dispersion could also be used, under the same environmental limitations, at an estimated cost of $40 per barrel. These cleanup costs may be compared with average value of a barrel of crude oil of about $2.00 to $3.00. Dillingham also points out that some oil may escape from the boom channel area, either washing over or under the booms or past the collecting net. Oil will also escape before booms and net are in position, as much as 25 to 50% if deployment is delayed. Spraying dispersants outside the boom channel is one way of dealing with these slicks. Other components of the response plan include methods of protecting threatened shorelines, and of cleaning up shores already polluted by oil. Dr. Smith concludes by noting that the information and techniques in his report may become outdated rather quickly. Significant research and development efforts are under way, sponsored by API, the Coast Guard, FWQA, and private industry. Technology for oil spill control is likely to advance significantly in the next few years, and equipment and techniques far superior to those now available can be anticipated.
SCIENCE/TECHNOLOGY By JAMES H. KRIEGER, Head, Technology Department
A community policy for European research Last week, as C&EN went to press, the Council of Ministers of the European Economic Community was expected to give the green light to a package of research and development projects that together would make up a communitywide scientific and technical research policy. With the blessings of the council, the community staff expects to have concrete proposals on priority projects ready in six months. Although research responsibility was specified by treaty in steel, coal, and nuclear energy, and a considerable amount of work has been carried out in these areas since the fifties, the treaties give no specific directions for general research and development. However, resolutions by the Council of Ministers of E E C passed in October 1967 and December 1968 set in motion a study of possibilities for scientific and technical cooperation among European countries in seven sectors: data processing, telecommunications, new means of transport, oceanography, metallurgy, meteorology, and abatement of nuisances. Projects in these seven areas have now been worked out. Many of them are chemical or closely related to the chemical industry. For example, some of the priority metallurgy development projects include titanium alloys and superalloys for gas turbines, fibers and fiber-reinforced composite materials for gas turbines, low-cost materials for use in sea water desalination, high-gage steel tanks for the chemical and petrochemical industries, and industrial superconducting materials. In some cases—pollution projects, for example—a program established at the community level would result in a saving of resources by avoiding duplication of effort. For the most part, however, the seven areas and the specific projects within them are a clear recognition of the technology gap that Europe faces. Numerous voices have commented on the technology gap, but perhaps none so eloquently as that of French editor J.-J. Servan-Schreiber, who ascribes the problem to cultural and political factors and mainly to a gap in management skills. His 1967 book "The American Challenge" (English translation published in 1968) caused a stir on both sides of the Atlantic as it developed the theme of Europe's decline in technologically advanced industry. Pointing out that it has primarily been American industry that has taken advantage of common market opportunities, Mr. Servan-Schreiber says that by 1980 the third greatest industrial power in the world, after the U.S. and the Soviet Union, may be not Europe but American industry in Europe. Not the least of Europe's problems is inadequate coordination in scientific and technological research and its application by industry. There have been previous cooperative research ventures in the European community, but they have suffered from a number of weaknesses. Projects have been organized on a sector by sector basis, with each country striving for as exact a balance as possible between its financial contribution and the returns it can expect in contracts awarded to its own industries. Projects have been subject to the hazard that each of the countries must approve its budget every year. Moreover, many discoveries remain unexploited because the transition from research to industrial exploitation is not very methodical. The new policy is an attempt at change. In some cases, research would be carried out in community laboratories. In others, it would be performed in national laboratories as part of national programs but would be integrated into the overall policy. In some cases, industry would carry out the research. And in some cases, the community would seek participation by nonmember countries. But overall, the projects would add up to a European-level scientific and technical research policy. As such, it could form a strong base for moves to meet the "challenge" so well described by Mr. Servan-Schreiber.
JULY 27, 1970 C&EN
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