On November 19, the oil tanker Prestige broke apart and sank 250 kilometers off the northern coast of Spain. More than 70,000 tons of heavy oil threaten to spill into the Atlantic Ocean, causing an environmental disaster and creating a huge amount of toxic materials that need to be cleaned up.
The most common method of cleaning up oil spills is to set up barriers in the water and then collect the floating oil by hand. But this only works in very calm seas. British workers have used chemical cleaners, dropping them directly onto the oil spill from planes or ships. This breaks the oil into tiny droplets, but the chemicals still remain in the water, which can kill fish and other marine life.
Berlin-based Eco.carbon has developed an alternative method for cleaning up oil spills. Eco.carbon has invented a giant sponge made of lignite resin that can absorb oil spills and prevent them from harming the environment. However, the invention has yet to be tested in real conditions.
This material is waterproof, floats, and absorbs oil and dirt very well. The mat contains crushed carbon, the small particles of which are able to absorb large amounts of oil and dirt. The whole process is safe and economical.
The Berlin inventors mainly sell their inventions to disaster relief services and firefighters. The scientists are confident in their wonder weapon.
“We have calculated that around 100 oil absorbing mats are needed to collect one ton of oil from water,” says Andreas Jonas from eco.carbon. “The number of mats needed does not depend on the area of ​​the oil spill, but on the amount of oil spilled. The mats do not necessarily have to completely cover the spill.”
The unique advantage is that once the oil is absorbed into the pad, it is permanently fixed there. However, the disadvantage is that the oil-absorbing pads become toxic waste. Despite this, the inventors are still confident that their product will be a success – even on the high seas.
“We tested the mats’ performance in water and also tested them to make sure that mats soaked in oil would float for days,” Jonas said. “We believe that these mats will not sink in rough seas and will be able to withstand high waves.”
This will make the use of mats more efficient than current cleaning methods, while reducing the cost by a third.
“To make the most of these mats, it is necessary to be able to quickly deliver large volumes of material to disaster sites, such as sunken ships,” Jonas said. “Therefore, the Coast Guard must ensure the supply of mats. That means stockpiles must be established along coastlines that are particularly vulnerable to threats, so that the mats are easily accessible.”
But eco.carbon scientists are also trying to improve other methods of responding to oil spills. Bacteria have been found at oil spill sites around the world that appear to be attracted to the toxic black sludge. Scientists are now working on culturing the bacteria.
Scientists are studying different bacteria to determine which ones are most effective at reducing oil levels. They hope to eventually use the most effective bacteria in oil spill cleanups.
However, all these efforts could not prevent the devastating environmental damage caused by the tanker accident. If Prestige loses its remaining 65,000 tons of cargo, the environmental disaster that is about to hit the Spanish coast will become irreversible.