New environmental cleanup technology rids oil from water

The material is shown to be superhydrophobic and superoleophilic, meaning it rejects water while absorbing oils. It is made using melamine sponges, an ultra-low-weight, porous material found in various products including household cleaning pads and insulation materials. The researchers modified the melamine sponge by dipping it into a solution containing a small amount of silicone rubber called PDMS and the solvent hexane, resulting in an extremely thin coating that repels water while allowing oil to be absorbed into the sponge.

“The reason we’re excited about this is that it is manufactured using a very inexpensive one-step process to coat the melamine sponges, and the material can be reused many times,” said Suresh V. Garimella, Purdue University’s executive vice president for research and partnerships and the Goodson Distinguished Professor of Mechanical Engineering. “We believe this can be readily adopted for the cleanup of oil spills and industrial chemical leaks.”

Findings are detailed in a paper that appeared online in March in the American Chemical Society’s journal Industrial & Engineering Chemistry Research. The paper was authored by postdoctoral research associate Xuemei Chen, research assistant professor of mechanical engineering Justin A. Weibel and Garimella.

Chen made the discovery while working in the Birck Nanotechnology Center in Purdue’s Discovery Park. The researchers have demonstrated that the new material can remove oils and organic chemical pollutants that are immiscible with water such as hydrocarbons, coolants and insulating fluid from electrical transformers, carcinogenic compounds called PCBs and certain pesticides.

“The target is any pollutant that is immiscible with water and that has a low surface tension,” Weibel said.

By contrast, water has a high surface tension, causing it to be repelled by the sponge.

“You need this contrast in surface tension for the sponge material to remove the contaminant,” Garimella said.

Other technologies under development that incorporate superhydrophobic and superoleophilic properties are either expensive, difficult to scale up, or require the use of exotic materials such as carbon nanotubes and graphene.

“Oil spillage from industrial sources has caused severe damage to the environment,” Chen said. “The conventional methods used to clean up oils and organic pollutants are slow and energy-intensive. The development of absorbent materials with high selectivity for oils is of great ecological importance for removing pollutants from contaminated water sources.”

Findings show the sponge material has an absorption capacity of 45-75 times its own weight, which is comparable to other more exotic materials under development.

“There are two ways to use this sponge,” Garimella said. “You can just drag it over the surface of the water to absorb the contaminant or apply suction so that it continuously draws out the oil and leaves the water behind.”

22 Comments on "New environmental cleanup technology rids oil from water"

Plantagenet on Tue, 5th Apr 2016 1:54 pm 



Three cheers for Science! Progress! and the Betterment of mankind!

Hoo-RAY!

Apneaman on Tue, 5th Apr 2016 2:06 pm 



Planty, progress implies a goal. What’s the goal? What end result is mankind trying to achieve and where is it written and when and who decided it was so? I don’t recall being asked my opinion or to vote on it.

Planty, sorry to have to be the one to break it to you, but there is no plan and there is no goal and there is no such thing as human progress – just a bunch of dopamine seeking apes on a lonely planet chasing after the next short term reward regardless of the long term consequences, AKA extinction.

Given apes predictable stupidity, I imagine if this is all it’s cracked up to be it will only result in the oil tards becoming even more reckless.

GregT on Tue, 5th Apr 2016 3:23 pm 



“We believe this can be readily adopted for the cleanup of oil spills and industrial chemical leaks.”

Wouldn’t a better solution be to not spill oil and toxic chemicals in the first place? Maybe we could come up with a better product for cleaning up shit from our living room carpets too? No need for toilets anymore.

Hoo-RAY!

Bob Owens on Tue, 5th Apr 2016 5:03 pm 



It would be best if we didn’t use oil but we do. As long as we do, it is certainly better to be able to clean up the spills easily and cheaply. I hope this advance works out and gets distributed widely for quick use in emergencies.

Anonymous on Tue, 5th Apr 2016 5:39 pm 



Sounds too good to be true, probably is. I bet the current raft of ‘oil’ spill technologies being used now were also accompanied by a too good to be true press release as well. I wonder what they said about Corexit when it was being developed?

Oil spills are nasty affairs no matter what ‘tech’ we deploy to ‘clean them up’. I don’t expect this, to ever be heard from again, and if I do, It will likely be how ineffective it is in the real world.

https://aotearoaawiderperspective.wordpress.com/2012/04/22/would-you-like-some-oil-and-corexit-with-your-fish-sir/

Go Speed Racer on Tue, 5th Apr 2016 6:22 pm 



Kool. Instead of having a big bad oil spill, now we can have a big bad oil spill littered with old sponges all over the place.

But it’s good welfare money for the researchers.

makati1 on Tue, 5th Apr 2016 7:02 pm 



GregT, my thought exactly. And what pollutant does the manufacture and use of this new ‘discovery’ cause? How about the disposal of the materials after it is used? Not answered as that would show that it is not really what it claims. Another techie “fix” that is no better than the techie problem in the beginning. LOL

Go Speed Racer on Tue, 5th Apr 2016 7:58 pm 



We could burn the used sponges in an industrial trash incinerator. But then you have to bag them up, not leave them floating in the ocean.

makati1 on Tue, 5th Apr 2016 10:09 pm 



Those burned sponges will just release all of the chemicals into the air where we can all breathe them. Technology does not ‘fix’ anything, it just complicates it while someone else makes a profit.

jedrider on Wed, 6th Apr 2016 12:25 am 



We need a self-replicating sponge that will soak up humans as well and render them HARMLESS to the environment.

GregT on Wed, 6th Apr 2016 12:33 am 



“We need a self-replicating sponge that will soak up humans as well and render them HARMLESS to the environment.”

Mother Nature is already working on several things much more efficient than that.

Go Speed Racer on Wed, 6th Apr 2016 5:14 am 



Makita, if you have a nice hot bonfire going, fed with pine stumps dumped from a loader bucket, the heat will burn up the sponges. Just after you toss on the sponges, toss on a mattress and an old sofa, and three or four radial tires on top of the sofa. That will burn up everything, and if you stand upwind, the smoke will go the other way.

Dredd on Wed, 6th Apr 2016 6:06 am 



Pabulum for the uninformed.

The problem is the scale, the quantity of the water that has been polluted by Oil-Qaeda.

A similar Gyro Gearloose gadget contemplated pumping sea water on top ot the Arctic and Antarctic Ice Sheets to thwart sea level rise.

When they realized the scale of the problem they also realized “there is such a thing as too late.”

Especially when associated with a damaged global climate system.

The merchants of doubt and the merchants of death are one and the same.

Davy on Wed, 6th Apr 2016 7:05 am 



Speeder those tires are called accelerants. White trash around here call it burn piles.

makati1 on Wed, 6th Apr 2016 7:18 am 



Go speed, and your neighbor thinks the same way you do so he burns his trash up wind from you so you get to breathe it. Instead of him. Multiply that by 7 billion fires burning trash and we all breath it. Some of the most deadly fumes are from burning plastics. Sometimes the simple answer is not the best one. The best one is to not make the trash in the first place.

PracticalMaina on Wed, 6th Apr 2016 7:36 am 



Looks like you could get paid to drive an ev if you charge it at the right times in Texas and Cali, it explains why I saw an article about a new commercial building in Cali being built with built in ice storage. Get paid to cool your building when you can and then utilize it as you need.

http://www.dallasnews.com/business/energy/20160405-what-do-texas-and-california-have-in-common-negative-power-caused-by-renewables-glut.ece
Its funny, I am told my great grandparents never used a dump, everything was recyclable or fuel. No fire proofing carcinogens in anything, very little petroleum products, maybe just a little lead paint 🙂

Davy on Wed, 6th Apr 2016 8:02 am 



some of the best burn piles are in the P’s along with ocean dumps.

Kenz300 on Wed, 6th Apr 2016 8:41 am 



Fossil fuels are poisoning the planet…………

The sooner we transition to safer, cleaner and cheaper alternative energy sources the better…..there will be less need for CLEANUP……..

Climate change is real…. we need to deal with the cause (fossil fuels)

Exxon’s Climate Change Cover-Up Is ‘Unparalleled Evil,’ Says Activist

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/exxon-evil-bill-mckibben_561e7362e4b028dd7ea5f45f?utm_hp_ref=green&ir=Green&section=green

HARM on Wed, 6th Apr 2016 11:28 am 



“Wouldn’t a better solution be to not spill oil and toxic chemicals in the first place?”

But how would that sustain BAU and generate profits for the financial sector? Those are the only questions that really matter to the decision makers.

efarmer on Wed, 6th Apr 2016 12:07 pm 



Hot Damn! I’m getting a few of those melamine sponges and coupled with my Tea Tree Tingle soap from Trader Joe’s I am finally going to beat those pimples on my shoulders. With any luck, there goes that oily sheen on my bald head as well.

Apneaman on Wed, 6th Apr 2016 12:15 pm 



Two Strategies for Surviving the Coming Mass Extinction

“With the world currently facing its sixth mass extinction, paleontological research helps us understand the world around us today,” said Angielczyk in a statement. “By studying how animals like Lystrosaurus adapted in the face of disaster, we can better predict how looming environmental changes may affect modern species.”

But as extinction timelines reveal, not all species are as resilient as Lystrosaurus. At least 10,000 species disappear forever each year, according to the World Wildlife Fund, which is somewhere between 1,000 and 10,000 times higher than natural extinction rates.”

http://motherboard.vice.com/read/two-strategies-to-surviving-the-coming-mass-extinction-lystrosaurus

Apneaman on Wed, 6th Apr 2016 3:49 pm 



Hilarious, some of my favourite people, evangelical Christians are getting mighty nervous about AGW. C’mon JC bail us out and we will promise to worship harder….and bomb more infidels.

Why Evangelicals — Yes, Evangelicals — Are Rallying For Action On Climate Change In North Carolina

“We had a prayer of repentance, recognizing that we have participated in degrading creation,” Lamb said. “Then we had prayers for those most impacted by climate change, and also spent some time praying for our political leaders, hoping that they would take bold, courageous action — that people on both sides of the aisle will continue to recognize that climate change impacts us, here, and our generation disproportionately.”

http://thinkprogress.org/climate/2016/04/05/3766781/evangelicals-climate-north-carolina/

No worries, Mary M says Everything’s Alright

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1Vx8KpqTVCk&nohtml5=False