Ab-Tech Industries, Tucson, has demonstrated a product it says can economically absorb and contain oil spills on water.
The product, Oil Aquatic Recovery System (Oars), consists of polymer disks contained in polypropylene nets. The polymer disks, for which a patent is pending, uses molecular physics and chemical reactions to encapsulate and absorb oil or petroleum products.
Netted bags of disks can be dropped on an oil spill from aircraft or boats and can be retrieved using ships' crane hooks or trawling equipment.
Ab-Tech, a company that specializes in absorbent technologies, said each pound of the Oars polymer can absorb at least 4 lb of petroleum within 40 hr.
There is no water absorption, and the polymer can remain on open seas for at least 16 weeks without releasing oil. Unlike other oil spill cleanup products, wave action enhances Oars performance, the company said.
When laden with oil, Oars disks can be burned as a fuel in a cogeneration plant or the oil can be retrieved at a cost of about $3/bbl by refining the disks. They also can be burned on the water or deposited in landfills.
Ab-Tech recently demonstrated the Oars system at the Minerals Management Service's Ohmsett oil spill test site at Leonardo, N.J.
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