Laser cleaning: an alternative method for removing oil-spill fuel residues

Ablation thresholds of fuel crust and underlying material have been investigated with the aim to establish operational parameters that preserve the structural integrity and identity of the latter. The clean-up process was controlled by the self-limiting nature of the process or by laser-induced plasma spectroscopy. Contaminated, no contaminated and cleaned areas of the samples have been characterized by complementary microscopy techniques to help in the task of optimizing the laser cleaning procedure and checking the effectiveness of the removal process.