Slashdot Mirror
New Sponge Can Soak Up and Release Spilled Oil Hundreds of Times (newscientist.com)
Seth Darling and his colleagues at Argonne National Laboratory in Illinois have created a new material that can absorb up to 90 times its own weight in spilled oil and then be squeezed out like a sponge and reused. This is compared to most commercial products used for soaking up oil, called "sorbents," which act like a paper towel and are only good for a single use. Once the sorbents are used, they get incinerated along with the oil. New Scientist reports: The oil sponge consists of a simple foam made of polyurethane or polyimide plastics and coated with "oil-loving" silane molecules with a sweet spot for capturing oil. Too little chemical attraction would render the sponge useless as an absorber, whereas too much would mean the oil could not be released. In laboratory tests, the researchers found that when engineered with just the right amount of silane, their foam could repeatedly soak up and release oil with no significant changes in capacity. But to determine whether this material could help sort out a big spill in marine waters, they needed to perform a special large-scale test. To do this, the team made an array of square pads of the sponge material measuring around 6 square meters. "We made a lot of the foam, and then these pieces of foam were placed inside mesh bags -- basically laundry bags, with sewn channels to house the foam," Darling says. The researchers suspended their sponge-filled bags from a bridge over a large pool specially designed for practicing emergency responses to oil spills. They then dragged the sponges behind a pipe spewing crude oil to test the material's capability to remove oil from the water. They next sent the sponges through a wringer to remove the oil and then repeated the process, carrying out many tests over multiple days. This so-far unpublished test was conducted in early December at the National Oil Spill Response Research and Renewable Energy Test Facility in Leonardo, New Jersey. Here's a video showing the sponge in action.
Years ago I read about someone who stuffed hair (collected from barbers/stylists) into a mesh-like tube that soaked up oil as it floated along the surface of the water... cheap and reusable.
No sig for you! Come back one year!
This would be very useful for when I spill my seed. Generally it's quite a load, and since this sponge is reusable hundreds of times, I could go three or weeks before needing a new one. Does Amazon sell these yet?
This is slashdot. Oil spills are no big deal. Human effect on the environment is negligible. That oil would have leaked out naturally anyway. Thank you.
for the TRUMP energy policies.
Who'd a thunk?
A product where we can reuse the precious oil instead of having to consider it lost.
Yes, I'm dead serious. This is maybe what would make oil companies interested in cleaning up their mess. What's in it for them if they can't use the oil anymore after cleaning up the spill? But if they can still use the oil, their motivation to clean up rises.
We used to have a Bill of Rights. Now, with the rights gone, all we have left is the bill.
Oil is all natural. Oil is organic. It is part of nature, occurring naturally. It has been seeping from the earth for thousands of years without harm.
Humans are pretty arrogant to think that they are better than Nature. Oil is degraded naturally in the environment by wind, water, ultraviolet light, and microorganisms.
So what's behind this new get rich quick scheme? As our European forefathers asked "cui bono?"
Who benefits? Simple. The shysters and fraudsters who try to wrangle contracts and lucrative government and investor money for their hare brained scheme. Do you know the Sham Wow Guy? Or the vegomatic? Or any of those other scam artists peddling their cheap made in China doodads? Well these "scientists" have those pikers beat by a country mile.
These crooked "scientists" make fabulous salarys while shamelessly scamming the general public. Take that fake scientist Bill Nye. He is at the top of the heap of slight of hand artists. How much do you think he's worth? How much has this master snake oil salesman profited from his outlandish claims? How much is he worth? Try six and a half million dollars! That's $6,500,000.
Now consider the poor earthy-crunchy greeie shlub. He has a degree in sociology. He's pushing 30 years old. He meticulously recycles plastic/paper/glass/food scraps. His vegan diet consists of quinoa and rice. He shuffles around in Birkenstocks, works at the Rite Aid for a little over minimum wage, 31.5 hours per week, less that 20K per year. It's not enough hours even to qualify for company insurance.
Our poor schlub has a sunken chest and a pale pasty complexion. This chump lives this spartan third-world lifestyle so that he can "help the earth", sending every spare shekel to foundations controlled by the likes of Bill Nye, people who cruise around in tricked out Cadillac Escalades, while quinoa Birkenstock boy humps to work on his two wheel thrift shop "cruiser",
Cui bono? Who benefits? Why the fraudsters behind this "Magic Oil Sponge", the crooks and "scientists" pocketing a fortune in graft while putting the Sham Wow Guy magic sponge to shame. Mr. Sham Wow couldn't even dare to dream of a con this large and lucrative.
We all know oil seeps naturally ... but to say 'without harm' is just nonsense. A tanker of oil in a rivermouth? In rthe middle of a fishery. Even if you care nothing for the environment (cf. your other comments), how about the econimic damage?
Time for bed, said Zebedee - boing
Will this work like a oleophilic belt skimmer? Which do a pretty good job for a very reasonable price. And you can set a skimmer to work continuously. Days, week's or months they just keep rotating and removing the oil. There are always uses for different types of oil recovery and this sponge will have its place.
Passionately Indifferent
This is very cool, and I hope it can enter production soon. That said, how well does it work on other materials? i.e. if an oil spill has already made it to land, can these be used to clean up beaches? What about other flotsam that may be in the area of a spill?
No matter what, it appears to be better than anything else at the moment, but I'd be interested in how it does outside of a pristine environment.
Sick of oily, pimply skin? Well thanks to, of all places, New Jersey, there's a solution! This foam, in makeup-sponge sizes.
WTF isn't this on Slashdot
Wikileaks Unveils 'Vault 7': "The Largest Ever Publication Of Confidential Documents On The CIA"
Isn't this what Shamwow does?
So what if a sponge can soak up and release spilled oil hundreds of times?
His dumb starfish friend will just spill the oil thousands of times.
Maybe you can give a trillion of these sponges to "that" Pipeline company that runs down the middle of the USA. Even their very newest projects are leaking into rivers.
I don't buy any kind of uber fancy paper towels from the store but I can certainly wring them out and reuse them when I am wiping up a big spill in the kitchen or near the table.
Damn_registrars has no butt-hole. Damn_registrars has no use for a butt-hole.
Very shortly the Drumpf administration will issue an executive order putting an end to this wasteful and pointless research.