Development of an Oil Spill Mitigation System

Abstract

Oil spills are horrendous man-made disasters, capable of reaching to biblical proportions in no time. The past accidents show one thing for sure, that we are not even near to being prepared for handling what we have our hands on. The aftermath of this disaster is apocalyptic; the death of marine life, along with sea birds and the life on the shore is drastic and rapid. The paper is regarding the project which aims to minimise the time of mitigating this disaster by deploying cheap, efficient oil cleaning robots in large numbers. At first, the concentration was based upon building a mechanism by breaking emulsions of oil and then recovering the oil. The concept, however proved to be better at a macro level, which deviates from the objective. The other mechanism used is that of sorbents to absorb the oil.Thecurrent practice involves using sorbents as a tail for boats. Suited for one run. The mechanism discussed continuously uses the sorbent up till its optimum life cycle. The model developed can also be used as an appendage that can be scaled to fit at the rear of boats or customized as per the marine vehicle with which it is to be used. The model entails the use of a poly urethane foam as a conveyor belt. The oil is absorbed by PUF and squeezed out at the end of the cycle. The recovered oil is taken and stored in the storage tank. The most ideal material is the graphite foam developed at Rice University, but taking into consideration the cost and availability, it has the dual advantage of using it as efficient means to recover oil, as well as, by burning it at the end of its life cycle energy can be obtained.