A Complete Solution for Oil-Spill Cleanup

Scientists are describing what may be a "complete solution" to cleaning up oil spills -- a superabsorbent material that sops up 40 times its own weight in oil and then can be shipped to an oil refinery and processed to recover the oil. And with more and more oil refineries emergeing, creating a greater chance for an oil spill, an effective way to cleaning up the oil to avoid maximum damage is music to our ears. Current methods for coping with oil spills are low-tech, decades-old and have many disadvantages. Corncobs, straw and other absorbents, for instance, can hold only about 5 times their own weight and pick up water, as well as oil. And then they become industrial waste that must be disposed of in special landfills or burned, making for difficult situation. Their solution is a polymer material that transforms an oil spill into a soft, solid oil-containing gel. One pound of the material can recover about 5 gallons of crude oil. The gel is strong enough to be collected and transported. Then, it can be converted to a liquid and refined like regular crude oil. That oil would be worth $15 when crude oil sells for $100 a barrel. Although it is not a large profit being made, profit is still being made and the oil that is lost is now being reused rather than being wasted. This new solution will dramatically reduce the environmental impacts from oil spills and help recover one of our most precious natural resources, oil.

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2012/10/121003150906.htm

Chemical Lets Researchers Extract Significant Oil Deposits; Leaves Positive Environmental Footprint

Chemicals found in common household items, like toothpaste and soap, are proving to be the right formula to safely extract up to 70 percent of the oil still embedded in high-salt oil reservoirs in the United States. With controversy surrounding fracking, a team from the University of Oklahoma Institute for Applied Surfactant Research has formulated an environmentally sound compound that increases oil flow in previously pumped reservoirs. By decreasing the surface tension, oil is released from the rock so it can move with the injected water and be pushed to the production wells safely. Secondary recovery methods, such as water flooding and hydraulic fracturing, are used to recover oil left behind by previously pumped reservoirs which drive trapped oil toward the drill hole, but when the injected water reaches the production wells, most of the oil remains trapped in the rock, much like a sponge traps water.  If this new method is successful, it would enable small oil producers to recover more oil efficiently and cost effectively, while leaving the formations environmentally sound reducing the enviromental problems that rise at the hands of oil drilling.

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2013/01/130130082252.htm

New Analysis of Drinking Water-Related Gastrointestinal Illness in U.S

The distribution system piping in U.S. public water systems that rely on non-disinfected well water or "ground water" may be a largely unrecognized cause of up to 1.1 million annual cases of acute gastrointestinal illness (AGI), involving nausea, vomiting and diarrhea, scientists are reporting. Such illnesses may become more of a problem as much of the nation's drinking water supply system continues to age and deteriorate. Since more than 100 million people in the U.S. rely on water piped into homes, schools and businesses from public water systems that get their water from wells, rather than lakes, rivers and other above-ground sources and much of that water is not disinfected at all or is not adequately disinfected to kill disease-causing viruses, more and more cases of people getting sick are being reported. Well-based water supply systems are responsible for the contamination of water and therefore for 470,000 to 1.1 million cases of AGI every year. And to make matters even worse, it is estimated that the number of reported illnesses will only rise years to come.

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2012/09/120912125824.htm