The development of novel super oleophilic absorbents that can be used for rapid and efficient capture of oil and hydrocarbon wastes will be used to remediate the oil spill. These materials have greater oil immobilization capacity with significantly lower dry weight than currently used absorbents and can be fabricated into devices that can be readily integrated into existing oil clean-up infrastructure. The ability to re-use the proposed absorbents following oil capture provides a significant advantage over current single-use absorbents. The results of the research and development of this technology will result in an optimized, cost competitive absorbent that can be field deployed for functional assessment in real-world environments.
The broader impact of the proposed technology will have significant impact on the efficiency and efficacy of oil spill clean-up efforts. It is anticipated that these materials will provide an optimized solution for a broad range of different oils, kerosene and gasoline products encountered in spill environments. Successful implementation of the novel materials and processes will lead to improved recovery of commercially viable oil products and diminish the amount of solid waste generated during the clean-up process. These significant performance advantages will facilitate rapid competitive entry into the commercial markets for oil absorbent products. Estimates of the manufacturing costs indicate that devices could be manufactured to be cost competitive with currently existing materials used for these applications.
The development of these novel super-oleophilic absorbents was supported by a SBIR RAPID award from the National Science Foundation (NSF) to support the Gulf of Mexico clean-up efforts (Period of Award: July 15, 2010 to June 30, 2011). The events that occurred in the Gulf of Mexico following the Deepwater Horizon disaster have focused attention on the significant problems associated with large scale oil spills and remediation. The adverse impacts to the ecosystem and long-term effects of environmental pollution are a major global concern. Even though there is a recognized need to improve the methodologies and tools for oil spill response and remediation, there has been very little effort to date to develop such technologies. The primary Phase I objectives were accomplished during the Phase I research period. Seashell has developed technology that if implemented would improve the effectiveness of oil clean-up from an oil spill in a water environment (ocean, lake, river, sewer etc.). Seashell has developed a technology to collect low viscosity oils (e.g. diesel) for which, to the best of our knowledge, there is no existing effective technology. Seashell’s technology could be used to collect low viscosity oils as an alternative to the deleterious environmental effects associated with simply allowing these low viscosity oils to evaporate.
