The design of the Euroskimmer was as dynamic as it was simple. It was a catamaran hull, covering six square meters of area, which gave it dependable buoyancy; no added wave motion sensors or controls had to be integrated. It had a hydraulic power pack and was operated manually by radio or a joystick. And it carried 100 meters (approximately 328 feet) of a discharge hose. But the true secret and success of the device was the disc-adhesion system that collected the floating oil like flypaper, the discs then spun like a wool on a spindle-whorl, thus separating oil from the seawater, and the collected materials were then discharged back through the hose to a base ship that stored the oil.
The Euroskimmer being lowered for a test run Norway, 1978. The Euroskimmer effectively removes oil from the surface of the ocean in all weather conditions and would be a huge advantage for the gulf Oil spill. However, it was abandoned in the 1990s.
I saw the same system work very well during a ‘created accident’ in the Delaware River a few years ago.