While part one of this feature examined oil-spill cleaning tech concentrating specifically on the variety of sponges designed for such a purpose, part two will examine solutions ranging from roundworms to human hair.

Dual-layer mesh roller

In a bid to combat the environmental toll of oil spills, researchers from the University of Texas at Austin have developed a dual-layer mesh roller in combination with an induction heating technique.

According to its developers, the technology reportedly features material properties that enable the system to separate oil from water and subsequently remove that oil from the ocean.

In the lab, the tech recovered up to 1,400 kg of viscous oil per square meter per hour — which is nearly 10 times better than oil cleanup methods currently in use.

The researchers explained that the rollers can potentially be built to different sizes for handling different sized oil spills. Attached and pulled along by boats deployed to oil spill areas, this technology is expected to expedite cleanup efforts from weeks to days.

To overcome the challenge of separating viscous oil from water, the team coated the mesh roller in a gel coating that can selectively adhere to oil at the point where the seawater on the bottom side and separate layer of oily water at the top side of the roller meet. Meanwhile, a device located in between the two layers is designed to capture the separated oil.

Further, the team applied non-contact induction heating to the top layer of the roller, thereby supercharging the reaction that separates oil from water — a process that in the lab achieved more than 99% oil-water separation efficiency.

For more information on the new technology, watch the accompanying video that appears courtesy of the University of Texas at Austin.

Roundworms

Scientists from the Bionanotechnology Lab of Kazan Federal University are attempting to imbue microscopic roundworms with oil eating properties.

The team of scientists are using roundworms, otherwise known as nematodes, as a vehicle for oil-consuming marine bacteria that can break down and consume oil products and transform them into fatty acids.

Dark-field image of crude oil droplets (a) and hyperspectral dark-field image of nematode intestine merged with hyperspectral crude oil mapping (b), obtained using reflected light spectra of intact crude oil and oil in intestine of C. elegans nematode (c). Dark-field microscopy images demonstrating the localisation of crude oil in the Dauer larvae nematodes' intestines after incubation for 42 h from L1 larvae stage: inside the foregut (d); in the midgut (e) and inside the hindgut (f). Source: Kazan Federal University

"We took Caenorhabditis elegans nematodes and fed them Alcanivorax borkumensis bacteria. Nematodes have bacteria as a usual part of their diet, so there were no negative consequences for them. Furthermore, undigested bacteria changed the gut microflora of worms, which led to enhanced digestion of oil, and then left their bodies through natural ways. As another takeaway from the experiment, we found out that worms can themselves eat oil products if they are not fed anything else," explained the researchers.

In the worm’s digestive system, oil is reduced to smaller 5 mm to 6 mm particles and the bacteria further reduces them.

Sawdust

Researchers from the U.S. Department of Energy's Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL) have developed a nontoxic material that absorbs up to five times its weight in oil and stays afloat for at least four months.

To develop this material, researchers used wood flour, which is a woodworking byproduct often used in the making of wood composites, and attached vegetable oil components onto its surface. This transformed the wood flour into oil-grabbing, hydrophobic, bleached powder. Further, the team incorporated oil-eating fungi and bacteria onto the powder's surface to break down any left-behind over time.

The researchers explained that after sprinkling a thin layer of the substance over the oil on the water’s surface, the material will immediately soak up oil, which creates a concentrated and solid slick that stays afloat and can either be burned or retrieved.

Lab tests have reportedly shown the material's water-repellent nature prevents ice from forming on it, allowing it to soak up oil and remain at the surface.

Hair

A nonprofit organization in Belgium dubbed Dung Dung is using human hair to clean up environmental pollutants such as oil and other hydrocarbons.

As part of Belgium’s Hair Recycle Project, human hair clippings are collected by hairdressers in that country and fed into a machine that yields matted squares.

Because one strand of human hair can reportedly support up to 10 million times its weight — with 1 kg of hair reportedly capable of absorbing 7 liters to 8 liters of oil and hydrocarbons — Dung Dung is placing those matted squares in drains to capture pollutants before they enter waterways.

The team is also turning human hair into bio-composite bags to clean up oil spills, according to Dung Dung.

Dog fur

A combination of human and dog hair recovered from groomers is also being used to soak up land-based oil spills by researchers from the University of Technology, Sydney, in Australia.

The researchers discovered felted mats composed of a combination of human hair and dog fur effectively absorbed simulated oil spills in the lab.

By recreating oil spill scenarios encountered on land — including oil spills from storage tanks, trucks and leaking oil pipelines, for instance — the team attempted to absorb oil on different surface types such as non-porous hard surfaces, semi-porous surfaces and sand.

Reportedly, the human hair and dog fur combination performed as well as synthetic sorbents on hard and semi-porous surfaces, but not as well on sandy surfaces.

These are just a few examples of the inventions being devised for cleaning up oil spills. Check back with GlobalSpec for more on this and other technologies.