Team Develops Non-Toxic Oil Recovery Agent
A team of chemists led by Dr. George John, Associate Professor at The City College of New York (CCNY), have developed a non-toxic, recyclable agent that can solidify oil on salt water so that it can be scooped up like the fat that forms on the top of a pot of chilled chicken soup. The agent could potentially be used to recover oil lost in the British Petroleum (BP) spill in the Gulf of Mexico, Professor John said.
In the laboratory, Professor John and colleagues added a sugar compound mixed in alcohol to diesel oil floating on top of a saline solution. “Within five minutes, the oil had gelled into a substance thick enough to be scooped up,” he said. Then the team separated 80 percent of the oil from the gel using a vacuum distillation process.
The gelling agent developed by his team is environmentally benign. It uses a sugar-based molecule that can be obtained from renewable sources and is biodegradable. In addition, only a relatively small amount of the agent – five percent of the volume of the oil being recovered – is required for the process, which handles a range of oil from crude to vegetable oil, to work. (more…)
iPhone App Will Help Rescue Oiled Gulf Coast Wildlife
Starting June 14, iPhone users who come upon oiled birds and other wildlife in the Gulf Coast region can immediately transmit the location and a photo to animal rescue networks using a free new iPhone app, MoGO, for Mobile Gulf Observatory. It was developed by four University of Massachusetts Amherst researchers to make it easier for the public to help save wildlife exposed to the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico.
With support from the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation, the UMass Amherst researchers hope the MoGO app will draw on the large network of “citizen scientists” who are as heartbroken as they are to witness the disaster for marine life and who are actively looking for ways to help save wildlife along the 14,000 miles of northern Gulf coastline.
Although rescue networks are in place and busy saving stranded wildlife, the task is enormous and trained staff too few. They just don’t have the people-power to cover all the territory from Louisiana to Florida. With over 400 wildlife species and 35 national wildlife refuges at risk, the Gulf is in crisis from the largest oil spill in U.S. history.
“That’s where citizen science comes in,” says UMass Amherst wildlife biologist Curt Griffin. As he explains, “The new app allows anyone who finds an oiled animal to be linked automatically by the phone to the Wildlife Hotline and also to contribute photos of the stranded animal and its GPS location coordinates to a database here on campus.” (more…)
Oil from Spill Could Have Powered 38,000 Cars (And More) for a Year
by Tracey Bryant
Sunlight illuminated the lingering oil slick off the Mississippi Delta on May 24, 2010. (Image courtesy of NASA.)
As of today (Wednesday, June 9), if all the oil from the Deepwater Horizon spill in the Gulf of Mexico had been used for fuel, it could have powered 38,000 cars, and 3,400 trucks, and 1,800 ships for a full year, according to University of Delaware Prof. James J. Corbett. That’s based on the estimated spill rate of 19,000 barrels of oil per day.
Corbett, a professor of marine policy in UD’s College of Earth, Ocean, and Environment, works on energy and environmental solutions for transportation. He has launched a website that reports the impact of the Deepwater Horizon oil spill in terms of lost uses of the lost fuel on a daily basis.
Visitors to the website can choose the spill rate they believe is most accurate from a range of reported estimates, and the website will automatically calculate how many cars, trucks, and ships could have been powered for a year, based on Bureau of Transportation Statistics.
Here are just a few of Corbett’s findings:
* By May 5 (15 days after the spill), the oil lost could have fueled 470 container ships serving New York and New Jersey ports for a year. (more…)
Ocean Currents Likely to Carry Oil Along Atlantic Coast
This still image is from an animation showing one scenario of how oil released at the location of the Deepwater Horizon disaster on April 20 in the Gulf of Mexico may move in the upper 65 feet of the ocean. This is not a forecast, but rather, it illustrates a likely dispersal pathway of the oil for roughly four months following the spill. (Visualization by Tim Scheitlin and Rick Brownrigg, NCAR; based on model simulations)
A detailed computer modeling study released today indicates that oil from the massive spill in the Gulf of Mexico might soon extend along thousands of miles of the Atlantic coast and open ocean as early as this summer. The modeling results are captured in a series of dramatic animations produced by the National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR) and collaborators.
The research was supported in part by the National Science Foundation, NCAR’s sponsor. The results were reviewed by scientists at NCAR and elsewhere, although not yet submitted for peer-review publication.
“I’ve had a lot of people ask me, ‘Will the oil reach Florida?’” says NCAR scientist Synte Peacock, who worked on the study. “Actually, our best knowledge says the scope of this environmental disaster is likely to reach far beyond Florida, with impacts that have yet to be understood.”
The computer simulations indicate that, once the oil in the uppermost ocean has become entrained in the Gulf of Mexico’s fast-moving Loop Current, it is likely to reach Florida’s Atlantic coast within weeks. It can then move north as far as about Cape Hatteras, North Carolina, with the Gulf Stream, before turning east. Whether the oil will be a thin film on the surface or mostly subsurface due to mixing in the uppermost region of the ocean is not known. (more…)
Researchers Develop Model for Locating and Forecasting Sunken Oil Following Spills
These are images showing relative concentrations of sunken oil on the bottom of a bay inlet, assessed for a simulated spill scenario. The new computational model was developed by a team of researchers at the University of Miami headed by Dr. James Englehardt, UM professor of environmental engineering in the College of Engineering. The unique model can be used in oil spill planning, response and recovery applications. (A. Echavarria Gregory, P. Avellaneda and James Englehardt)
A team of researchers at the University of Miami (UM) has developed a computer model for finding and projecting in time sunken oil masses on the bottom of bays, after an oil spill. The unique model can be used in oil spill planning, response, and recovery applications.
“Sunken oil is difficult to ’see’ because sensing techniques show only a small space at a point in time. Moreover, the oil may re-suspend and sink, with changes in salinity, sediment load, and temperature, making fate and transport models difficult to deploy and adjust,” says James Englehardt, UM professor of environmental engineering in the College of Engineering and team leader for the project. “For these reasons, we have developed a unique approach to the problem, bridging sampling plan techniques with pollutant transport modeling, to create models of sunken oil. (more…)
Clean-Up Tools: Seeking to Limit Wetland Damage from Gulf of Mexico Oil Spill
Fort Jackson, Louisiana International Bird Rescue Research Center (Lorna Baldwin, Deputy Senior Producer, PBS NewsHour CC Attribution-Noncommercial 2.0 Generic)
With oil from the big Gulf of Mexico spill threatening fragile coastal wetlands, clean-up crews are about to discover whether a combination of old and new clean-up methods will help limit the environmental damage. That’s the topic of an article in Chemical & Engineering News (C&EN), ACS’ weekly newsmagazine.
C&EN Assistant Editor Michael Torrice notes that scientists and engineers are using three basic tools to try to clean up the spill, in which millions of gallons of oil escaped into the ocean from an oil rig following a pipe rupture. Those tools include mopping-up the oil with absorbent pads called “skimmers,” burning the oil in a controlled fashion, and breaking-up the oil into smaller particles using chemicals called dispersants. Despite these efforts, massive amounts of oil remain. (more…)
Research Expedition Diverted to Collect Oil Spill Samples
NIUST team members Carl MacLetchie (left), Luke McKay and Max Woolsey examine one of the first sediment samples brought aboard the Pelican from a control site outside the oil spill area in the Gulf of Mexico. (NIUST photo)
Scientists and technicians from the University of Mississippi and University of Southern Mississippi are part of a National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration-sponsored and repurposed ocean mission that is collecting seafloor and water column data from areas near the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico.
Researchers from the National Institute for Undersea Science and Technology sailed late Tuesday on a university research ship to obtain core sediment samples from the seafloor and water samples from the water column in areas near the Deepwater Horizon spill source. They are aboard the Pelican, operated by the Louisiana Universities Marine Consortium, which departed from Cocodrie, La.
The team collected its first samples at midday Wednesday and will continue doing so for several days before returning to port Sunday. The samples are expected to provide important information about the abundance of marine organisms and the presence of chemicals in ocean water and sediments – information for a baseline against which to measure change if those areas are affected by sinking oil. (more…)
Danger in Gulf ‘Unfathomable,’ says Cornell Ornithologist
Damage from an earlier Black Sea oil spill.
Ken Rosenberg, director of conservation science at the Cornell Lab of Ornithology and a specialist on the conservation of birds throughout the Western Hemisphere, comments on the ecological threat posed by the massive oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico.
Rosenberg says:
“The potential danger is unfathomable, because we don’t yet know how the leak can be stopped and how big the spill will get. It’s a full moon, a high tide, and it’s bringing the oil on a free ride right into the coastal salt marshes on a southerly wind. It is also peak migration season for birds crossing the gulf — tens of thousands of exhausted shorebirds are going to be arriving in the next two weeks. They’re flying over water and stopping to refuel on the beaches and in the estuaries along the Gulf Coast directly in the path of this massive spill.
“The big picture view here is: our thirst for fossil fuel means we’ve been playing Russian roulette with our environment, and the gun just went off. (more…)
Oil Spill in the Gulf of Mexico Nears the Coast
In this latest image acquired by ESA’s Envisat on Thursday at 16:23 UTC, oil from the massive spill in the Gulf of Mexico can be seen as a dark blue swirl advancing toward the Louisiana coast.
On Thursday night, the oil spill – five times larger than first estimated – had spread to just under 5 km from the coast, threatening environmental disaster.
As efforts are being made by all available resources to help avert the feared environmental catastrophe, Envisat images are being provided to U.S. authorities immediately after they are acquired through the International Charter Space and Major Disasters.
On 22 April the U.S. Geological Survey, on behalf of the U.S. Coast Guard, requested the Charter to provide rapid access to radar and optical satellite imagery of the oil slick. In response, a series of space sensors, including Envisat’s Medium Resolution Imaging Spectrometer (MERIS) and Advanced Synthetic Aperture Radar (ASAR), have been tasked to monitor the situation. (more…)
Wildlife Still Exposed To Exxon Valdez Oil 20 Years After Disaster
Taken during clean-up of Exxon Valdez spill. 700 miles of coast line was contaminated with crude oil. (Photo Jim Brickett. CC Attribution-No Derivative Works 2.0 Generic)
Scientists in Alaska have discovered that lingering oil from the 1989 Exxon Valdez spill is still being ingested by wildlife more than 20 years after the disaster. The research, published in Environmental Toxicology and Chemistry, uses biomarkers to reveal long-term exposure to oil in harlequin ducks and demonstrates how the consequences of oil spills are measured in decades rather than years.
The Exxon Valdez tanker ran aground on the Prince William Sound on March 24, 1989, spilling 10.8 million gallons of crude oil into the sea, covering 1,300 square miles. It is still regarded as one of the most devastating human-caused contamination events, and the effects on wildlife populations and communities have been debated by biologists, ecologists, and the oil industry ever since.
Now, using the biomarker CYP1A, which is induced upon exposure to crude oil, an international team led by Daniel Esler, from the Centre for Wildlife Ecology, Simon Fraser University, British Columbia, has measured prolonged exposure to oil in local wildlife populations. (more…)
New Material Absorbs Oil Spills
A new material made at Case Western Reserve University is designed to clean up oil spills on land and at sea. The superlight material, a clay-based aerogel, absorbs oil out of water, leaving the water behind. The oil can then be squeezed out of the aerogel, and used.
An ultra-lightweight sponge made of clay and a bit of high-grade plastic draws oil out of contaminated water but leaves the water behind.
And, lab tests show that oil absorbed can be squeezed back out for use.
Case Western Reserve University researchers who made the material, called an aerogel, believe it will effectively clean up spills of all kinds of oils and solvents on factory floors and roadways, rivers and oceans.
The EPA estimates that 10 to 25 million gallons of oil are spilled annually in this country alone. Spilled oil ruins drinking water, is a fire and explosion hazard, damages farmland and beaches and destroys wildlife and habitats. The harm can last decades.
The aerogel is made by mixing clay with a polymer and water in a blender, said David Schiraldi, chairman of the Macromolecular Science and Engineering department at the Case School of Engineering.
The mixture is then freeze-dried; air fills the gaps left by the loss of water. The resulting material is super light, comprised of about 96 percent air, 2 percent polymer and 2 percent clay. (more…)
Low Concentrations of Oxygen and Nutrients Slowing Biodegradation of Exxon Valdez Oil
Michel Boufadel (right), director of the Center for Natural Resources Development and Protection in Temple's College of Engineering, places montioring equipment in a well dug along a beach in Alaska's Prince William Sound. Boufadel found that the low concentrations of oxygen and nutrients, along with the flow of water in the beach's lower layer, were hindering the aerobic biodegradation of oil remaining from the Exxon Valdez spill. (Michel Boufadel/Temple University)
The combination of low concentrations of oxygen and nutrients in the lower layers of the beaches of Alaska’s Prince William Sound is slowing the aerobic biodegradation of oil remaining from the 1989 Exxon Valdez spill, according to researchers at Temple University.
Considered one of the worst environmental disasters in history, the Exxon Valdez spilled more than 11 million gallons of crude oil into Alaska’s Prince William Sound, contaminating some 1,300 miles of shoreline, killing thousands of wildlife and severely impacting Alaska’s fishing industry and economy.
In the first five years after the accident, the oil was disappearing at a rate of about 70 percent and calculations showed the oil would be gone within the next few years. However, about seven or eight years ago it was discovered that the oil had in fact slipped to a disappearance rate of around four percent a year and it is estimated that nearly 20,000 gallons of oil remains in the beaches.
The researchers, lead by Michel Boufadel, director of the Center for Natural Resources Development and Protection in Temple’s College of Engineering, have been studying the cause of the remaining oil for the past three years.
Their study, “Long-term persistence of oil from the Exxon Valdez spill in two-layer beaches,” was posted Jan. 17 in advance of publication on Nature Geoscience’s Web-site.
Boufadel said the beaches they studied consisted of two layers: an upper layer that is highly permeable and a lower layer that has very low permeability. He said that, on average, water moved through the upper layer up to 1,000-times faster than the lower layer, and while both layers are made up of essentially the same materials, the lower layer has become more compacted through the movement of the tides over time. (more…)
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