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Hierarchical Membrane For Cleaning Up Oil Spills

Posted by Unknown on from the what-about-anarchist-membranes dept.

rtoz (2530056) writes Whenever there is a major spill of oil into water, the two tend to mix into a suspension of tiny droplets, called an "emulsion." It is extremely hard to separate them, and they can cause severe damage to ecosystems. Now, MIT researchers have discovered a new, inexpensive way of getting the two fluids apart again. This new approach uses membranes with hierarchical pore structures. The membranes combine a very thin layer of nanopores with a thicker layer of micropores to limit the passage of unwanted material while providing strength sufficient to withstand high pressure and throughput.

5 of 32 comments (clear)

  1. Solved problem by snsh · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Easier to follow Exxon's example and dump tons of dispersant into your oil spill, and watch the globs disappear from plain sight.

    1. Re:Solved problem by pepty · · Score: 5, Funny

      You know, I don't think I've ever heard of a mix of cash, lawyers, and lobbyists being referred to as "dispersant" before.

    2. Re:Solved problem by frinkster · · Score: 3, Insightful

      Easier to follow Exxon's example and dump tons of dispersant into your oil spill, and watch the globs disappear from plain sight.

      How this got moderated as Interesting I have no idea - I found it to be quite funny.

      But the truth is that that industrial corporations are very sensitive to economics. Crude oil is very valuable and dispersant is very expensive. Any product that allows them to recover the oil economically will be used extensively.

      The environmental movement really advanced when people started explaining to corporations that pollution was nothing more than raw inputs that they paid for and are now throwing away. A lot of industrial companies have entire divisions dedicated to selling products produced with what used to be stuff they threw out or paid someone to dispose of.

    3. Re:Solved problem by i+kan+reed · · Score: 3, Informative

      BP got in big trouble for an internal memo that discussed the idea of reclaiming the oil. It was a "how dare they think of protecting their assets after doing this" outrage.

      I don't have a strong opinion about that memo or the outrage(even though I'm quite concerned with environmental matters on principle). Just that that happened.

  2. Is this better for pour-over or French Press? by pepty · · Score: 4, Interesting

    Solomon performed experiments showing the effectiveness of the membranes in separating nanoemulsions while maintaining integrity at high pressure. The team used various techniques — including differential scanning calorimetry, dynamic light scattering, and microscopy — to test the separation efficiency, showing more than 99.9 percent separation. Microscopy images show the membrane in operation, with dye added to the water to make the droplets more obvious. Within seconds, an oil-water mixture that is heavily clouded becomes perfectly clear, as the water passes through the membrane, leaving pure oil behind. As shown in the microscope images, Solomon says, “We’re not only getting rid of the droplets you can see, but also smaller ones,” which contribute to the cloudy appearance.

    How much oil (weight/weight) can a piece of membrane hold on to? Can the oil be stripped off of the membrane so that the membrane can be reused? If the answers are "less than 1:1" and "no", this might still be useful as a final purification stage after most of the oil has been removed or for situations where you are trying to clear smaller amounts of more toxic materials.