Pitt professor wants BP to try his filter

http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/10159/1063993-53.stm

by georgecmu • 16 years ago

30 15 16 years ago

Shouldn't the main focus be on stopping the source. The rate of oil flowing out is far more than what can be collected from separation techniques. The USCG is already using cutters equipped with skimming booms to essential vacuum up the oil and store it.

georgecmu• 16 years ago

The problem is that large quantities of oil have already dispersed over large areas of the gulf. Skimming booms don't scale very well, while a lot of these cotton filters could be created and dispatched very quickly.

ars• 16 years ago

There doesn't have to be just one main focus. Different groups can work on different things.

ck2• 16 years ago

Yeah they filed his idea right in the circular file with all the 7000 per week others.

If corporations have learned anything in the past few decades, it's to allow the public to vent all they want and just nod their heads meaninglessly.

thwarted3• 16 years ago

There's a tremendous opportunity being missed here. What someone should do is start giving away empty oil barrels and offer some price for them returned filled with oil, a price determined by how difficult it will be to then refine and make use of the collected oil (someone could just scoop up the oil off the beach, but then the sand suspended in it makes it difficult to do anything with). Let the public put their ideas to work to get things cleaned up. Everyone is looking for a silver bullet, a single solution to instantly clean it all up, which is unobtainable.

tlack• 16 years ago

That would be interesting: if the govt required BP to "buy back" any oil the public can bring in, if it was easily tested to be of whatever quality, such as 50% oil:water mix. Let the public clean it up at ~$50/barrel - it's at $71/barrel now. It would be worth it for most people with a boat and probably higher revenue per hour than fishing.

mbreese• 16 years ago

I kinda hate to say it, but isn't it a bit late to try and push a new technique to mass production? This is the type of thing that should have been done last year. I'm sure this is a good technique, and it might just be the best method for cleaning up the oil that is present in the water. However, it's one thing to do this in the lab or in a small scale. It's a whole other issue to do this at the scale of the Gulf.

That being said: I'm pretty sure his funding chances have increased. Perhaps the oil companies will start (or be forced into) spending more of their money funding this type of work now.

Groxx2• 16 years ago

... and the possible damage to the ecosystem if some of those "chemicals" leech off? Some things are worse than oil.

jrockway• 16 years ago

Like dispersant.

jmm• 16 years ago

Except that the dispersant /necessarily/ makes it way into the water. Because they put it there.

Groxx2• 16 years ago

Yeah, I still don't like the sound of the dispersants. Hiding the problem apparently makes it go away?

Pitt professor wants BP to try his filter

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