Cleaning up oil spills

Getting to the bottom of the barrel

Ever wonder about oil tankers and how the get out all that crude oil at delivery? I did. I did a little research and found out about a thing called a Belt Skimmer. You know that old thread mop that you have? Or perhaps that you've seen people use at your favorite fast food restaurant, airport terminal or other such place that has a lot of floor to cover? Would you believe that the same principle is applied to the mopping up of crude oils from barrels, containers and oil tankers? With a few improvements of course.

The basic idea is that of the string mop. The fluid is absorbed into the threads and then it gets wrung out some place else. The difference between a conventional string mop and this big brother is both the size and the wringing mechanism. The mop can be up to 50 feet long and is a loop. At the bottom of the loop, the mop picks up the liquid, in this case oil. It is transported to the wringing mechanisme by just pulling it up and then it's wrung out over a container using electric powered 'squeegy' rollers. Then it returns to the place of the oil and starts over again. Would you believe that up to 50 gallons of oil can be salvaged per hour this way?

What about floating oil spills?

Allright, we've seen how the belt skimmer can be used to mop up oil from the bottom of a barrel. However, if the mop becomes waterlogged it can't contain any oil, so how can we make sure when we're mopping up oil from a body of water, that we're not mopping up the body of water?

Again the solution is simple and elegant. We affix the end of the mop to a place above the water allowing the mop to drag on, rather than in the water. Of course, this can't be done on very choppy water, but if you 'stake out' a bit of ocean for instance, by putting a sort of bottomless boat over the top of it, the water inside the stakeout will be calm enough to mop up the oil. This is a rather laborious task but it can be done and every bit of oil salvaged from a spill means at least two things: A bit less beach spoiled, and less danger of marine wildlife and birds getting hurt.

Oil companies are starting to understand that unless they want to lose the support of the public, they better clean up their act. Just as they are starting to understand that their industry is going to disappear in the next 50 years or so, and if they wish to survive as a company, they'd better diversify. The other option is to plan for the dissolution of the company, personally I'd prefer that option. In my opinion any company that has outlived it's use should be declared obsolete and cease to exist. This is certainly true for the oil industry.

After all: if you can build a multibillion dollar multinational company once, you can do it again. This time, take what you've learned about customer satisfaction, the environment and social responsibility and start over. Make a company that is committed to doing good, rather than just 'don't be evil'. The world is wating for strong entrepreneurs that want to make the world work again.

A challenge to the industry

When the big oilspill in the gulf of Mexico happenen people donated human hair to help with the mop up. Somehow word had gotten out that human hair could absorb more oil than any other type of material and, well, people cared so they donated their hair for the mop up.

I'm not sure if the hair thing was effective or not, but it does show that the public does care. So here's my challenge to the oil-spill cleaning industry, listen up ambarenvironmental: find a material that is even more effective at mopping up oil. It truly is a win win win win situation.

• People won't be feeling the need to turn in their hair
• The public will approve
• The oil spill will be cleaned quicker
• You'll gain more oil from the mopping

With nanotechnology, biomimicry and combining all kinds of knowledge with the simple yet elegant mop design, we can make sure we are ready for when then next spill hits and we can prevent a lot of the disastrous consequences of our carelessness. And make a profit to boot.