June 10, 2010 - VIDEO: Incredible Polymer Cloth Separates Oil from Gulf Water

In a few days Green Guide Network will be traveling to Louisiana to document and assist where and whenever possible with the cleanup efforts from the April 20th explosion of the Deepwater Horizon oil rig in the Gulf of Mexico.

While we know the efforts of two people will do little to change much of anything over the course of a few days and BP, scientists, and the government are still in desperate search of a viable solution - one University of Pittsburgh engineering professor may have found the solution.

Di Gao, an assistant professor at the Department of Chemical and Petroleum Engineering in the Swanson School of Engineering has recently developed a method of separating oil taken from the Gulf spill from sea water within just seconds using a cotton cloth coated in a chemical polymer. Gao has repeatedly tested his filter successfully on Gulf Oil water and has an impressive video to show it. Jump to the video here.

The polymer that Gao uses on his special cloth is both hydrophilic (meaning it bonds with the hydrogen molecules in water) and oleophobic (oil repellant), making his cloth the absolutely perfect solution for blocking oil and letting water pass through. Basically, the chemical is applied to a plain cotton cloth, which is then dried in an oven or in open air. As one can see in the video, the filter is simple yet incredibly effective -gravity draws clear water to the bottom of a container while the brown oil is captured above.

Gao imagines the best way to apply his cloth solution to the Gulf of Mexico spill by treating large, trough-shaped filters that could be dragged through the water to contain surface oil, which could then be recovered, stored and even sold back to BP or other suppliers. Incredibly, the cloth filters could even be reused once they are cleaned and dried again. Gao has already submitted the idea to the Deepwater Horizon Response website, and we truly hope that they seriously consider his idea. If not, we'll try to talk to Mr. Gao so look for us on the news next week with buckets and cloth covers doing what we can.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kfRKjiOXVWE&feature=player_embedded