Scientists have created the non-toxic ‘super-sponge’ to clean oil spill in the turbulent waters of the Arctic Ocean.
An oil spill is the release of a liquid petroleum hydrocarbon into the environment, especially marine areas, due to human activity, and is a form of pollution.
The term is usually applied to marine oil spills, where oil is released into the ocean or coastal waters, but spills may also occur on land.
Oil spills may be due to releases of crude oil from tankers, offshore platforms, drilling rigs and wells, as well as spills of refined petroleum products (such as gasoline, diesel) and their by-products, heavier fuels used by large ships such as bunker fuel, or the spill of any oily refuse or waste oil.
Cleaning oil spills in cold waters is especially tricky, as bobbing ice chunks push oil below the water’s surface, making it difficult to collect. The same goes for rough waters, whose tall, clashing waves disperse oil.
The new non-toxic material absorbs up to five times its weight in oil and stays afloat for at least four months.
Beyond absorbing oil, the saw dust also enhances another approach to combatting oil spills called controlled burns.
If changing weather or tides fastly move spilled oil towards a sensitive area, oil can be burned before it can cause further harm.
Called in-situ burning, the practice can significantly reduce the amount of oil in water and minimise its adverse environmental effects.
Researchers looked to develop an environmentally friendly and inexpensive material that floats on rough or freezing waters and can support in-situ burning. They ultimately found their winner in a fine dust called wood flour, a woodworking byproduct often used to make wood composites.
Oil spills at sea are generally much more damaging than those on land, since they can spread for hundreds of nautical miles in a thin oil slick which can cover beaches with a thin coating of oil. These can kill seabirds, mammals, shellfish and other organisms they coat. Therefore clean oil spill is the urgent need.
Oil spills on land are more readily containable if a makeshift earth dam can be rapidly bulldozed around the spill site before most of the oil escapes, and land animals can avoid the oil more easily.
