The paper presents search for objective and quantitative method of determination usefulness of various loose sorbents destined for cleaning surfaces polluted with oil. The motivation to take up the topic is that oil pollution emergence in marine areas remains still as the environmental problem. During the ship exploitation there is possibility of appearing of the fuel oil, lubricating oil, hydraulic oil or even transformer oil leaks on the board which might be erased by washing or using sorbent powders and granules or mates. In the case of disposing the washing liquids, the large volume of oil-in-water emulsion is forming which is gathered in a tank and further transported to the vessel cleaning system. In the case when sorbents are applied in an early phase of oil leakage, the vessel cleaning system is less overloaded which reduce the probability of failure. We report analyses of effectiveness of mineral and organic sorbents. The time-period of incepting of defined amount of oil by define amount of sorbent is applied as the sorption effectiveness parameter. Time plots of oil sorption as well as visualizations of this process are presented. Method to characterize the efficiency of sorbents in relation to used lubricating oil is proposed which will stand as the base for further works directed towards elaborating optimal sorbent-set which can be rapidly used for combat spillages and leaks of oils and even other liquid dangerous payloads carried by ships.
