Note: Descriptions are shown in the official language in which they were submitted.
CA 02776725 2012-05-11
METHODS FOR OIL SPILL REMEDIATION
FIELD
[0001] The present disclosure relates to oil spill remediation.
BACKGROUND
[0002] On April
20, 2010, just off the Gulf Coast, a damaged oil-rig burst. This destruction
lasted nearly 3 months because they could not find a way to seal the leak
until the July 15, July, 2010. The
well let 35,000-60,000 barrels of oil a day into the Gulf of Mexico. Imagine:
an estimated 5,000,000 barrels
of oil escaped into the sparkling blue waters of the Gulf of Mexico. The
Deepwater Horizon is the biggest
marine oil spill known to mankind. There were many failed attempts at capping
the leak, but none could
contain the force of the gushing oil. Nearly 10% of the gulf coastline was
affected including the coasts of
Texas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama and Florida. Tar balls (balls of crude
oil mixed with shells and
ocean residues) continue to show up on the shores of the gulf. Many ecosystems
are still being affected due
to this catastrophe.
[0003] This oil
spill caused irreparable damage to the ecosystems bordering the gulf. By
November 2, 2010, almost 7,000 dead animals had been collected from the shores
of the Gulf, including
6,104 birds, 609 sea turtles, 100 mammals, and 1 reptile. This does not take
into account the thousands of
animals that were found alive but visibly effected by the oil.
[0004] In addition
to the extensive damage caused to ecosystems in the Gulf of Mexico, BRITISH
PETROLEUM (BP), the company responsible for the Deepwater Horizon, has
confirmed that this
unfortunate accident was a very expensive one. On July 5, 2010,
representatives of BP stated in a press
conference that "The cost of the response to date amounts to approximately
$3.12 billion dollars including
the cost of the spill response, containment, relief well drilling, grants to
the Gulf states, claims paid, and
federal costs." An additional estimated $20 billion has been spent on further
research and future clean up
of the oil spill.
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[00051 BP workers began immediately to try to cap the gushing oil well. The
scary part of it all
was that BP did have a plan set out for this type of emergency and their
emergency plan was followed.
However, this plan was unsuccessful and the workers were unable to cap the
leak. For several weeks, many
methods to cap this oil well were attempted, including the use of remote-
controlled robots a mile under the
water surface, guided by engineers, attempting to repair the hole in the well.
None were successful. Finally,
on July 15, 2010, success was achieved to the relief of many, including
environmentalists, fishermen,
politicians, and residents etc. After 3 months of intense work, the well was
finally capped.
[00061 BP was held responsible for this disaster and began the process of
cleaning up the millions
of gallons of oil in the Gulf immediately. Again, many methods were attempted
and many failed. The
cleanup began with booms, made from a 3,000 year old Egyptian plant called
kenaf being placed in the
water to assist in the cleanup. At first, BP scientists and engineers began to
burn the oil off the surface of
the water. This approach was not successful because the oil molecules had
mixed with water molecules
(97% of the oil molecules had mixed with water) making it nearly impossible to
maintain proper burning.
Another downfall to this technique was the fact that CO, CO2 and fumes were
being released into the
atmosphere which posed a threat to the respiratory health of thousands of
people. A second approach used
in the clean-up was to collect the surface oil with containment booms and then
to use large vacuums to
remove the oil by suctioning it into barges. This method of clean-up was
somewhat successful but was a
very slow process given the large quantity of oil involved in the spill.
Environmentalists warned that this
method would leave the whole Gulf at risk of further damage by hurricanes or
other severe storms. It was
generally agreed that other methods had to be found. Suggestions about
substances that might be able to
absorb oil started coming in from around the globe.
100071 BP shifted its methods and tried using floating polyethylene pads in
an effort to soak up =
the oil. This idea was quickly overridden by thousands of other suggestions
such as human hair mats, a
highly-absorbent peat moss, and fibre-glass insulation that deflected water
and only absorbed oil. Mats of
human hair and mushrooms were created and used in attempt to clean up the oil.
A company called Amira
LET suggested a product which they marketed called, Arch-Microbes. Arch-
Microbes consist of a mixture
of naturally-occurring microbes found in deep ocean vents. These
microorganisms consume petroleum and
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soon after produce oxygen. They could be used in repairing marine dead zones
as they cleaned up the
petroleum. An important feature of this approach is that, once the microbes
consume the oil, they die off.
The company claimed that this method worked in a large-scale oil spill in
1990. Many people were against
the use of the product, Arch-Microbes, because they were worried about
possible negative effects that these
microbes could have on the environment in the Gulf.
[00081 Although many cleanup methods have been attempted, so
far, scientists, engineers and
environmentalists have yet to find an approach that effectively absorbs the
oil residues and does not have
some negative effect on the environment. The goal of this project is to
identify a substance that has a large
capacity to hold oil and which poses a minimal or no negative effect on the
environment. In doing so, we
are hopeful that we can contribute to the discovery of a substance that could
not only be used in cleaning up
the remains of this disaster, but also could be applied to any future oil
spills, thus contributing to the
preservation of our natural environment.
SUMMARY OF THE GENERAL INVENTIVE CONCEPT
100091 The following presents a simplified summary of the
general inventive concept herein to
provide a basic understanding of some aspects of the invention. This summary
is not an extensive
overview of the invention. It is not intended to restrict key or critical
elements of the invention or to
delineate the scope of the invention beyond that explicitly or implicitly
described by the following
description and claims.
[00010] In an exemplary embodiment, there is provided a device
for recovery of oil and/or one or
more oil constituents from a body of water, comprising an enclosure with a
cavity. The cavity includes at
least one sample of absorbent materials therein and in a configuration to
permit water to migrate
therethrough and for at least a portion of the oil and/or one or more oil
constituents contained in the water
to be retained in the sample, the enclosure being arranged, in an operative
condition, for the sample to be in
fluid communication with the water, the sample including three or more of bone
meal, oat hulls, down
feathers and mushrooms.
1 100011] In an exemplary embodiment, the enclosure is provided
in the form of a quilted pad, a mat, a
boom, a raft and/or a panel.
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[00012] In an exemplary embodiment, the absorbent materials include bone
meal, oat hulls and down
feathers in substantially equal proportions.
[00013] In an exemplary embodiment, the absorbent materials including
cotton balls, oat hulls and
oyster mushrooms in substantially equal proportions.
[00014] In another exemplary embodiment, there is provided a method for
recovering oil and/or one or
more oil constituents from a body of water, comprising passing the water
through, or exposing the water to,
an enclosure containing at least one sample of absorbent materials including
three or more of bone meal,
oat hulls, down feathers and mushrooms and in a configuration to permit water
to migrate therethrough and
for at least a portion of the oil and/or one or more oil constituents
contained in the water to be retained in
the sample, the enclosure being arranged, in an operative condition, for the
sample to be in fluid
communication with the water.
1000151 In another exemplified embodiment, a composition is provided for
use in recovery of spillages
of petroleum and/or derivatives thereof, comprising a first lipid bearing cell
wall constituent derived from
naturally-occurring plant, fruit, grain, vegetable or legume materials, and a
second lipid bearing non-cell
wall particle constituent of an effective particle size to be interspersed
with the first constituent.
[00016] In one example, the first constituent is derived from outer fruit
casings of grains. The gains
may include oats and soya beans.
[000171 In another example, the grains include one or more of corn,
safflower, oats, rice, cotton,
sunflower, soybean, peanut, mustard, canola, camelina, coconut, crambe and
palm palm.
[00018] In another example, the second constituent includes bone meal,
and/or features or constituents
thererof or derivatives therefrom.
100019] In another exemplified embodiment, there is provided a process for
recovery of oil and/or one
or more oil constituents from a body of water, comprising providing a grouping
or sample of recovery
units, the recovery units being of a size and configuration to allow the
grouping to be deposited, broadcast,
delivered to or located partially or fully "en masse" or in plural groups or
plural packages on the body of
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water, each recovery unit containing one or more oleophilic materials for
collecting the oil and/or oil
constituents therein, collecting the recovery units en masse, or in plural
groups or plural packages and
removing a portion of the oil and/or oil constituents therefrom.
100020] In an exemplified embodiment, after the removal of a portion of the
oil and/or oil constituents
therefrom, the recovery units are re-located on the body of water.
1000211 In an exemplified embodiment, the recovery units include a
composition as herein described
1000221 In an exemplified embodiment, the removal of oil and/or oil
constituents is carried out by
squeezing, rolling and/or centrifugation.
1000231 In an exemplified embodiment, the recovery units being in the form
of matt or sachet.
[00024] In an exemplified embodiment, the sachet being in the general size
of a tea bag, a pita, a pie, a
pizza, or a donut.
1000251 In an exemplified embodiment, the sachet or matt having dimensions
ranging from about one
inch to about 10 feet or any range therebetween in any increment or unit of
measurement.
[000261 In an exemplified embodiment, the sachet or matt having dimensions
ranging from about one
inch to about 24 inches or any range therebetween in any increment or unit of
measurement..
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
[00027] Several exemplary embodiments of the present invention will be
provided, by way of
examples only, with reference to the appended drawings, wherein:
1000281 Figure I is a schematic view of alternative exemplary devices;
1000291 Figure 2 is a perspective view of a test device for testing
different absorbent materials;
1000301 Figure 3 is an illustration of an exemplary device;
1000311 Figure 4 is a collection of oyster mushrooms located in the test
device of figure 2;
CA 02776725 2012-05-11
100032] Figures 5, 6 and 7 are plots of characteristics for different
samples;
1000331 Figures 8, 9 and 10 are plots of additional characteristics; and
100111341 Figures 11, 12, 13 and 14 are schematic views of a process for
oil remediation.
DESCRIPTION OF THE EXEMPLARY EMBODIMENTS
1000351 It should be understood that the invention is not limited in its
application to the details of
construction and the arrangement of components set forth in the following
description or illustrated in the
drawings. The invention is capable of other embodiments and of being practiced
or of being carried out in
various ways. Also, it is to be understood that the phraseology and
terminology used herein is for the
purpose of description and should not be regarded as limiting. The use of
"including," "comprising," or
"having" and variations thereof herein is meant to encompass the items listed
thereafter and equivalents
thereof as well as additional items. Unless limited otherwise, the terms
"connected," "coupled,"
"adjoined," and "mounted," and variations thereof herein are used broadly and
encompass direct and
indirect connections, couplings, and mountings. In addition, the terms
"connected" and "coupled" and
variations thereof are not restricted to physical or mechanical connections or
couplings. Furthermore, and
as described in subsequent paragraphs, the specific mechanical, other
configurations illustrated in the
drawings are intended to exemplify embodiments of the invention. However,
other alternative mechanical
or other configurations are possible which are considered to be within the
teachings of the instant
=
disclosure.
1000361 Provided herein is a device for recovery of oil and/or one or more
oil constituents from a body
of water, comprising an enclosure with a cavity. The cavity includes at least
one sample of absorbent
material or materials therein and in a configuration to permit water to
migrate therethrough and for at least
a portion of the oil and/or one or more oil constituents contained in the
water to be retained in the sample.
1000371 The enclosure is arranged, in an operative condition, for the
sample to be in fluid
communication with the water. In one example, the enclosure is provided in the
form of a quilted pad, a
mat, a boom, a raft and/or a panel, or another structure that enables the
sample to be exposed to the body of
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water. In one example, the sample may include three or more of bone meal, oat
hulls, down feathers and
mushrooms.
[00038] In an exemplary embodiment, the absorbent materials includes bone
meal, oat hulls and down
feathers in substantially equal proportions, or in other suitable or effective
combinations and proportions to
provide for recovery of oil.
[00039] Since oil spills continue to pose a real and significant danger to
the natural environment, we
believe that studies like ours need to be conducted and tested for
effectiveness before the oil spill occurs.
The experience of the Deepwater Horizon oil spill and the calamity of errors
which followed in the attempt
to clean up the spilled oil must not be repeated. If and when such a disaster
occurs in the future, scientists
and engineers must have reliable scientific knowledge and corresponding tested
alternative strategies to
immediately implement with a strong likelihood of success. If an oil spill
were to occur, then our mat can
be reeled out from a ship or be deployed in other ways, and sit on or near the
surface of the ocean, or other
body of water. After the surface layer of oil is absorbed, then the mat can be
reeled back onto the boat, and
the oil may be reclaimed.
[00040] In another exemplified embodiment, there is provided a method for
recovering oil and/or one
or more oil constituents from a contaminated body of water. The method
comprises passing the water
through, or exposing water to, an enclosure containing at least one sample of
absorbent materials including
three or more of bone meal, oat hulls, down feathers and mushrooms and in a
configuration to permit water
to migrate therethrough and for at least a portion of the oil and/or one or
more oil constituents contained in
the water to be retained in the sample. The enclosure is arranged, in an
operative condition, for the sample
to be in fluid communication with the contaminated water.
[00041] In another exemplified embodiment, a composition is provided for
use in recovery of spillages
of petroleum and/or derivatives thereof, comprising a first lipid bearing cell
wall constituent derived from
naturally-occurring plant, fruit, grain, vegetable or legume materials, and a
second lipid bearing non-cell
wall particle constituent of an effective particle size to be interspersed
with the first constituent.
[00042] In one example, the first constituent is derived from outer fruit
casings of grains. The grains
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may include oats and soya beans.
[00043] In another example, the grains include one or more of
corn, safflower, oats, rice, cotton,
sunflower, soybean, peanut, mustard, canola, camelina, coconut, crambe and
palm.
[00044] In another example, the second constituent includes bone
meal, and/or feathers or parts or
constituents thereof.
[00045] The compositions contemplated herein lend themselves to
be used in a number of different
formats. For instance, the composition may be located in a large scale mat, in
the order of tens of feet in
width/length and spread onto a contaminated water body. Alternatively, the
composition may be located in
a small scale mat or package, akin to a tea bag or the like, to form a
manufacturable unit which then may be
distributed over a contaminated water body and then harvested and processed to
remove oil and then
reused.
[00046] As will described, in one example, a mat is provided
which is made of fibrous material and is
shown to be effective in absorb oil in an aquatic environment.
EXPERIMENTAL:
[00047] PART A: To determine the efficacy of different materials,
we carried out the following steps
for each material. We packed the material in the open end of the puck shown in
figure 2. We stapled a top
screen onto the puck to hold Fibrous Substance therein. We located the puck
containing the Fibrous
Substance over a funnel and the large graduated cylinder. We poured 20 mL of
oil from the small graduated
cylinder, repetitively, over the puck until oil started excessively dripping
into large graduated cylinder. We
let the puck drip oil into the large graduated cylinder for 24 hours. We then
recorded how much oil drips
through the puck into the large graduated cylinder. The results are shown in
figure 5.
[00048] PART B: We then selected different combinations of
materials. For each sample of different
combinations, we measured 100mL of each material in the combination of three,
and placed in a filter
together. We mixed the three materials so that they were relatively even
spread throughout the filter. We
placed the filter in a funnel held in a graduated cylinder. We repeated poured
20 mL of oil evenly over the
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filter using a small graduated cylinder, until oil started excessively
dripping through the filter into the large
graduated cylinder. We then let the filter sit in ambient conditions 24 hours.
We then measured the excess
oil that dripped through the filter and we recorded the amount of oil that was
poured into and dripped out of
the filter.
[00049] PART C: To form our mat, we cut two circles of nylon
fabric with a diameter of 1 1 cm.
(Area= 95.0 cm2). We sewed the nylon fabric together along the perimeter of
the fabric, but left 5cm open
at one end to create a pouch. We then packed the nylon fabric pouch with the
best combination found in
Part B. We sewed the pouch's opening closed. We then hand sewed the pattern
onto the Mat. To test the
pattern, we situated the mat inside the filter. We placed the filter inside
the funnel that is held in a
graduated cylinder. We repeatedly poured 5mL of oil into the filter evenly
across the mat until oil was
excessively dripping through the filter into the graduated cylinder. We
recorded the amount of oil that is
poured into, and dripped out of the filter.
PART A
=
[00050] Fibre Glass had the highest percentage of oil absorption
(92.9%) followed by Yellow Oysters
(87.3%), Oat Hulls (86.7%) and Down Feathers (83.9%).
1000511 The following fibrous substances proved to be less
absorptive (in declining absorptive
potential): Cotton Balls, Saw Dust, Bone Meal, Peat Moss, Kitty Litter, and
Vermiculite.
= PART B
=
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1000521 The combination of [bone rneal+oat hulls+down feathers], had the
highest percentage of oil
absorption (97.6%) followed by the combinations of [bone meal+fibre-glass
insulation+down feathers]
(96.8%), [cotton balls+fibre-glass insulation+ down feathers] (95.5%), and
[cotton balls+ oat hulls+ oyster
mushrooms] (95.0%)
1000531 The combination of [cotton balls+oyster mushrooms+down feathers]
(63.60%) proved to have
the lowest percent absorbency in the combination testing.
PART C
[000541 Pattern #2 (89.5%) had the highest average percent absorbency
followed by pattern #3 (87%),
and tied are pattem#4 and pattern#5 (85%).
[000551 Pattern #1 had the lowest average percent absorbency (80%)
[00056] Although Fibre-glass insulation was the most absorptive of the
fibrous substances tested, we
believe that oyster mushrooms (87.28%) , oat hulls( 86.7%), down feathers
(83.9%) , saw dust( 79.5%),
bone meal (75.6%) or cotton balls (82.7%), would pose less potential threat to
the natural environment and
would be less harmful to organisms in an aquatic water ecosystem.
1000571 Taking into account the earlier tests conducted, we took six of
the highest absorbing fibrous
materials and combined them. We decided to include fibre-glass insulation in
the combination testing in
Part B, even though it is not environmentally friendly. It proved to have the
best percent absorbency in Part
A, so we were curious of how well it would absorb in a combination setting. We
decided that if the
combination with fibre-glass insulation did not absorb significantly higher
percentages of oil than the other
combinations, we would have to use the next best, environmentally-friendly
combination for our mats.
Ironically, the best combination did not include fibre-glass insulation. In
the results of the combination
testing, [oats hulls+bone meal+dovvn feathers] proved to be the most absorbent
which was coincidentally
favourable because this combination was one of the most environmentally
friendly combination.
[00058] The mats that were made were made simply of the combination of
[oat hulls+bone
meal+down feathers] but the pattern which was stitched onto the mats differed.
We chose 5 simple patterns
= 10
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and tested each pattern twice. We tested Part C twice because, in Part A and
Part B, we could easily keep
the variables the same (volume, area etc). The mats in Part C varied because
the hand stitching that we did
could not be replicated exactly for each mat Therefore, testing the mats twice
in Part C made the results
more accurate.
[00059] PART D.
[00060] In the Room Temperature Test, the fibrous mat containing human hair
and oyster mushrooms
(henceforth identified as H.M.) had the highest average percentage of oil
reclaimed in all 4 cycles(Cycle 1:
14.00%, Cycle 2: 16.83%, Cycle 3: 16.5%, Cycle 4: 14.5%), while the B.O.D mat
had the lowest average
percentage of oil in all 4 cycles (Cycle 1: 7.0%, Cycle 2: 13.5%, Cycle 3:
12.83%, Cycle 4: 10.0%).
Similarly, the average oil absorbing capacity of the H.M. mats at room
temperature was 2.45 mL per gram
of H.M. (dry mass) while the average oil absorbing capacity of the B.O.D. mats
at room temperature was
2.17 mL of oil per gram of B.O.D. (dry mass).
100061] In the Cold Temperature Test, the B.O.D. mat had the highest
average percentage of oil
reclaimed in cycles 3 and 4 (Cycle 3: 19.08%, Cycle 4: 17.0%) but had a lower
average percentage of oil
reclaimed in cycles 1 and 2 (Cycle 1: 6.41%, Cycle 2: 12.91%). In comparison,
the H.M mat had the
lowest average percentage of oil reclaimed in cycles 3 and 4 (Cycle 3: 14.66%,
Cycle 4: 13.66%) but had a
higher average percentage of oil reclaimed in cycles 1 and 2 (Cycle 1:10.83%,
Cycle 2: 14.16%). However,
in the cold temperature test, the average oil absorbing capacity of our B.O.D.
mats was higher at 5.96 mL
of oil per gram of B.O.D. (dry mass) than. the average oil absorbing capacity
of the H.M. mats at 4.37 mL
per gram of H.M. (dry mass).
PART E
[000621 Tests were conducted to investigate the capacity for the mats to
absorb oil, using protocols
described above. Results are shown in figures 8, 9 and 10. Absorptive Capacity
was found to be 7.88 ml/g
of B.O.D. Mat in a 10 cycle Procedure using Cold Temperature water(3 ).
7.65m1/g
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1000631 Further, absorptive Capacity was found to be 7.65m1/g of B.O.D. Mat
in a 10 cycle Procedure
using Room Temperature water(3 ). At room temperature, the results indicated
that the Absorptive
Capacity, at Room Temperature, can be determined by the formula:
y -0.61x2 + 8.77x + 67.07, where R2= 0.6853
[000641 In another exemplified embodiment, as shown in figures 11 to 14,
there is provided a process
for recovery of oil and/or one or more oil constituents from a body of water.
In this case, a sample of
recovery units are provided, each being a size and configuration to allow the
same as a whole to be
deposited, broadcast, delivered to or located partially or fully "en masse" or
in plural groups or plural
packages on the body of water. Each recovery unit contains one or more
oleophilic materials for collecting
the oil and/or oil constituents therein. As can be seen in figure 11, seven
such recovery units are shown at
10, above a body of water 12 with an oil spill shown schematically at 14. The
recovery units in this case
are shown in a relatively large format, but may be of a wide range of sizes to
suit the application. They
may be, for instance, the general size of a tea bag, a pita, a pie, a pizza,
or a donut. In this example, the
recovery units are configured so that they may be delivered partially or fully
"en masse" or in plural groups
or plural packages on the body of water 12, and more partially on the oil
spill 14, for example by batch
dumping, broadcasting (as one would broadcast seed from a seeder, or gravel
from a gravel thrower), or the
like. The recovery units would then be free to float in the oil spill, and may
be confined by the use of
booms, shown partially at 16. The recovery units may be attached to one
another by netting or the like to
allow for easier collection, in the case where booms or other containing
equipment may not be practical.
[000651 As sown in figure 13, the recovery units may then be collected and
then, as shown in figure
14, deposited to a centrifuge or to some other location or device removing a
portion of the oil and/or oil
constituents therefrom, for later disposal or processing by way of a truck or
the like. After the removal of a
portion of the oil and/or oil constituents therefrom, the recovery units may
be relocated en masse or in
groups as described above on the body of water to repeat the process.
1000661 Those of skill in the art will recognize while certain modifications,
permutations, additions and
sub-combinations thereof of parts noted herein are described for what are
presently considered the
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exemplary embodiments, the invention is not so limited_ To the contrary, the
invention is intended to cover
various modifications and equivalent arrangements included within the spirit
and scope of the appended
claims. The scope of the following claims is to be accorded the broadest
interpretation so as to encompass
all such modifications and equivalent structures and functions.
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