Brush skimmers are a relatively new concept, the rows of bristles can in the right conditions increase the amount of oil that can be recovered as it is trapped between the bristles. These devices can be configured for light or heavy oil and are available as small units for inland spills or large units for offshore applications.

Disc skimmers like all oleophilic skimmers are highly efficient and will only pick up a very small percentage of water. Equally once the oil has been recovered, if left to operate - will not recover water. Discs are constructed from PVC, aluminum or steel. The skimmer head incorporates one, two, three or four disk banks which rotate. The system works by oil sticking to the disc(s) as it is rotated through the oil layer, it is scraped off inside the skimmer head with flexible scrapers.

Drum skimmers are versatile skimmers that can recover a range of oils, from very light ( diesel/jet fuel), to crude oils.

Open water Weir skimmers consist of a number of floats fitted with self- adjusting weirs - the ring surrounding the pump floats at the water level inside the hopper, when the hopper is pumped out the ring drops allowing surrounding oil to flow over the weir which effectively removes thick or thin layers of oil or pollutant.