Scientists Discover Efficient Way To Absorb Oil Spills

Read the full article on Green Building Elements

The BP oil spill was one of the worst environmental disasters in the past decade, not to mention one of the worst all time in the Gulf Coast. Just today BP agreed publicly to plead guilty in causing damage to the region and paying heavy fines to groups in the area. Luckily though, scientists have just generated a new material that is capable of not only absorbing  oil from the water in mass quantities, but then can be sent to refineries to have the oil itself salvaged. This helps businesses maintain their profit, but vastly more importantly it expedites the cleanup process for oil spills.

"Two years after the Deepwater Horizon oil platform exploded in the Gulf of Mexico, restoration efforts are still under way. At the time of the accident, scientists struggled with how to contain oil in the gulf, which killed animal and plant life and took a terrible toll on many industries. Now, we may be better prepared to respond to such a disaster, thanks to a groundbreaking new material.

Scientist have invented a new super-absorbent material that can soak-up 40 times its weight in oil and contain it. This allows for the clean-up of water, but also preserves the oil for harvesting. The absorbent material can be sent to an oil refinery, where the oil is extracted."