What is an engine room bilge oily-water separator designed to do?

Correct Answer: Option A — Remove small amounts of oil from large amounts of water.

Oily-water separators are designed to process large volumes of bilge water to remove small, emulsified, or free-floating oil droplets. This ensures the effluent meets MARPOL Annex I requirements, which limit oil content in overboard discharges to 15 parts per million (ppm) for vessels operating in regulated waters.