Scientists develop new sponges that can help clean up oil pollution from offshore oil drilling

Scientists at the University of Toronto and Imperial College London have developed a new sponge that they believe can help clean up seawater contaminated by offshore drilling. Scientists say that due to the release of tiny oil droplets into the surrounding water, there are 100 billion barrels of oil-contaminated wastewater produced by drilling and fracturing on the seabed each year.

The new sponge developed by the team can remove up to 90% of oil droplets from wastewater in ten minutes. The team says that when using a sponge, the oil will cover its surface like a film through a process called adsorption. After use, the sponge can be treated with a solvent to release oil from the sponge. The oil can be recycled and the sponge can be used again.

The new sponge is the second generation product, and its efficiency is slightly lower than the first generation sponge. The first generation sponge can remove 95% of the oil, but it takes three hours to remove. The new sponge can only remove 90% of the pollutants, but its ten-minute cleaning time is very useful in industry. Compared with the previous sponge, the new sponge also has a larger pH range.

Scientists used polyurethane foam in the first generation of sponges to separate tiny oil droplets from wastewater. The improved design of the second generation sponge involves the addition of tiny nanocrystalline silicon. These particles allow the sponge to capture and retain the oil droplets and form a coating on the surface of the hole. This process is called the critical surface energy, and the oil droplets are tightly grasped. In the future, the team hopes to use sponges for other tasks, such as removing bacteria from brine and treating other types of contaminants.

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