Scientists create new oil spill response technology

csiro_scientists_create_new_oil_spill_response_technology (540p)

[Animation image appears of a boat in the ocean with an oil slick beneath it and a pelican standing in a pool of oil on the ocean shore]

Narrator: Oil spills can cause great environmental damage, especially to our marine wildlife.

[Animation image changes to show an oil spill spreading out over the ocean from the boat, and the camera pans to the edge of the oil slick, and text appears: Thick oil, Thin oil, Small droplets dispersed in sea water]

When oil spills do happen we need to quickly separate and remove the oil from the sea water. Oil spill cleanup is a multi-step process.

[Animation image changes to show three researchers working in a lab]

CSIRO has developed a technology for separating oil from water after the skimming operation.

[Animation image changes to show a close view of a hand holding a sponge with tongs, and dipping it into a beaker of polystyrene-based polymer, and text appears pointing to the beaker: Polystyrene-based polymer]

First we take a typical domestic sponge, we coat the sponge with a special polystyrene-based polymer.

[Animation image shows the sponge being removed from the beaker, and a diagram showing the layers of the sponge appears with text: Hydrophobic polymer layer, Sponge]

The polymer layer coating the sponge is super hydrophobic.

[Animation image changes to show a hand holding a beaker with oil droplets and water, and pouring it over the sponge and text appears: Small oil droplets mixed in water]

That means it’s extremely repellent of water but it’s very efficient at separating oil from water.

[Animation image changes to show the sponge on a compressor, and then the image shows the sponge being compressed down and the oil squeezing out of the sponge]

That oil soaks into the sponge. The sponge material is cheap and scalable. It can also be easily recycled and reused after it has been mechanically compressed.

[Animation image changes to show a close view of oil droplets in the water, and then the camera pans up to show a boat above the oil droplets in the water, and text appears: Oil spill response vessel]

Best of all our technology also works with extremely low concentrations of oil. We want to remove the remaining oil droplets so that the oil spill response vessel can continue to collect oil for longer.

[Animation image changes to show a flow diagram showing the stages of the oil spill cleaning process, and text appears: Pump, Oil/water mixture tank, Hydrophobic sponge, Clean sea water]

Returning to shore is costly and time consuming. Our new technology allows oil spills to be cleaned at sea.

[Animation image changes to show the boat floating on a clean sea, and then the camera pans up and fish and marine life can be seen below the boat in the ocean]

This is a cheaper, faster way to treat oil spills, ultimately helping reduce the impact on our marine life.

[Music plays and the image changes to show the Fisheries and Oceans Canada logo and text on a white screen: Acknowledgement to Fisheries and Oceans Canada and the Multi-Partner Research Initiative under Canada’s Oceans Protection Plan]

[Image changes to show the CSIRO logo and text appears: CSIRO, Australia’s National Science Agency]