This article describes a new sugar-based compound in development by researchers at the City College of New York that has the potential to make oil slick cleanup a lot easier in the future. The compound turns the oil to gel, which can be easily skimmed from the water's surface. This is a great alternative to dispersants like the ones BP used because it's nontoxic and shouldn't harm ocean organisms. Check out the video on the same page of that stuff in action--pretty cool!
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Interesting! It's sort of the opposite of the dispersant chemicals that have been used!
I wonder if this compound would work to bring up the heavier oil that's spreading out in "plumes" deep underwater?
That's a good question. I also wonder what the gel's properties are--would it render the oil plumes inert so that they could potentially sink to the bottom and stay there until they could be recovered? Could the oil be sprayed as it's leaking?
At the end of the article, the Indian researcher mentioned recovering the valuable compound from the oil--which made me wonder if the oil could also be recovered from the gel and used. Not that I want us to use more fossil fuels, but if it's leaked anyway...
who lives in a pineapple under the sea? Nobody now thanks to BP. >,<
has the oil stop
its not obamas fault its bps he shouls atill worie about it but so should they.
i dont know what everyone is thinking but bp really needs to take responsibilty for whats happening to all the underwater critters that are losing their lives i mean think of the problems our economy will face too i mean the price of shrimp and fish widespreadly caught in the gulf will skyrocket this will only add to our rapidly sinking economy and think of the loss of jobs that will skyrocket as well bp should do something instead of letting it get so out of hand u know i heard that the use of simple hay absorbs the oil and its easy to dispose of idk but this is deff not good for the ecosystem or the population of tourists that spend oodles of cash every year to see a beautiful beach.... there im done venting
i like the whales and i feel so bad i wish it was me in the oil spill not the whales i love whales please rescue them for me
i dont get why tha people spilled the oil in tha gulf its like what tha heck... thats jus stupid !!! haha
`i think that they should clean the gulf up with chemicals that don't hurt alll the animals in the sea. Then nobody else-or nothing else-would get hurt.
I don't think they should use chems, because they might still hurt the plants. If water and oil don't mix, couldn't the skim the surface??
is the oil spill stop leaking completly?
and if so have they cleaned up all the mess?
also how many animals have been killled or injured?
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