Abstract: A contaminant recovery apparatus may have a sprayer attached to a front portion of the apparatus and operative to delivery droplets of molten wax to oil spilled in water or on ground. The apparatus may further comprise a take up system which picks up wax after it has solidified and absorbed the oil. The take up system may be attached to the rearward portion of the apparatus. The apparatus may also have a separation system which separates the wax and the oil. The reclaimed wax can be reused to pick up more spilled oil. The reclaimed oil may be refined for fuel.

Abstract: The improved method employs hydrocarbon wax, preferably paraffin wax, as the cleaning agent for petroleum oil spill slicks. The method includes spraying the molten wax on the petroleum oil-covered surface of, for example, an ocean or a coastline, allowing the wax to solidify on such surface, thereby entraining large volumes of hydrocarbon oil, then removing the solidified wax with entrained petroleum oil from the surface. The method is repeated as often as is needed in order to fully strip the surface of the petroleum oil. The wax is recovered by heating the mixture of the solidified wax with the entrained petroleum oil therein until the wax melts, after which it is decanted from the petroleum oil and is ready for reuse in the method. Preferably, the molten wax is paraffin heated to about 75.degree.-100.degree. C. in order to fully fluidize it so that it can be sprayed easily onto the oil-fouled surface.