The Proven Solution for Cleaning Up Oil Spills (I)
The Exxon Valdez, an oil tanker exporting millions of gallons of oil, ran aground just after midnight on March 24, 1989 in Alaska, creating what is, to this day, the worst environmental disaster in American history. The affected area of coastal Alaska continues to feel the toxic results of that disaster that killed more than 250,000 seabirds, thousands of marine mammals, and countless numbers of other coastal marine organisms in just its first months. Oil is notoriously difficult to clean from water, and it is still emerging from subsurface reservoirs. Salmon caught in that region are, even now, 16 years later, showing signs of long-term contamination from the devastating oil spill.
While disasters of this magnitude happen rarely, with large spills making up less than 5 percent of the oil spilled into water each year, tens of thousands of smaller oil spills are occurring all around the world. Oil enters the water supply from road runoff; refuse from routine engine maintenance; emptying of boat wastewater and other ship operations; air pollution that settles into bodies of water after rains; and through offshore oil production, which can cause ocean oil pollution from spills, leaks, and routine, operational discharges.
Water can, thankfully, be cleaned or remediated and made safe again for drinking, swimming, fishing, and boating, a task made significantly easier if the oil is caught before it has the chance to settle into the depths. A product using NASA technology is available to consumers and industry that enables them to safely and permanently clean petroleum-based pollutants from the water. It is almost alchemical in its perfection, as it is comprised of beeswax microcapsules that act as a food source that stimulates the indigenous microbes to consume the oil.
The product makes use of NASA microencapsulation technology. Work was done at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) to demonstrate the feasibility of encapsulating live cells, while technology developed at the Marshall Space Flight Center for experiments in orbital production of microspheres provides the basic design of the delivery system.
Product Outcome
The basic technology behind PRP is thousands of microcapsulestiny balls of beeswax with hollow centers. Water cannot penetrate the microcapsules cell, but oil is absorbed right into the beeswax spheres as they float on the waters surface. This way, the contaminantschemical compounds that originally come from crude oil such as fuels, motor oils, or petroleum hydrocarbonsare caught before they settle.
PRP works well as a loose powder for cleaning up contaminants in lakes and other ecologically fragile areas. The powder can be spread over a contaminated body of water or soil, and it will absorb contaminants, contain them in isolation, and dispose of them safely. In water, it is important that PRP floats and keeps the oil on the surface, because, even if oil exposure is not immediately lethal, it can cause long-term harm if allowed to settle. Bottom-dwelling fish exposed to compounds released after oil spills may develop liver disease, in addition to reproductive and growth problems. This use of PRP is especially effective for environmental cleanup in sensitive areas like coral reefs and mangroves.
This ecological wonder has also been packaged for specific uses by UniRemInc to create a variety of different commercial products, including the BioSok Bilge Maintenance System, the BioBoom, the WellBoom, and OilBuster.