Tag Archives: oil spill remediation

Clean up oil spills with a smart sponge?

I love the part with the magnet,

All of the main points are made in the video but for those who like text, there’s a May 28, 2020 news item on phys.org describing this new smart sponge for cleaning up oil spills (Note: Links have been removed),

A Northwestern University-led [Chicago, Illinois, US] team has developed a highly porous smart sponge that selectively soaks up oil in water.

With an ability to absorb more than 30 times its weight in oil, the sponge could be used to inexpensively and efficiently clean up oil spills without harming marine life. After squeezing the oil out of the sponge, it can be reused many dozens of times without losing its effectiveness.

“Oil spills have devastating and immediate effects on the environment, human health and economy,” said Northwestern’s Vinayak Dravid, who led the research. “Although many spills are small and may not make the evening news, they are still profoundly invasive to the ecosystem and surrounding community. Our sponge can remediate these spills in a more economic, efficient and eco-friendly manner than any of the current state-of-the-art solutions.”

A May 28, 2020 Northwestern University news release (also on EurekAlert), which originated the news item, reveals (as did the video) the characteristics that make this smart sponge particularly interesting,

Oil spill clean-up is an expensive and complicated process that often harms marine life and further damages the environment. Currently used solutions include burning the oil, using chemical dispersants to breakdown oil into very small droplets, skimming oil floating on top of water and/or absorbing it with expensive, unrecyclable sorbents.

“Each approach has its own drawbacks and none are sustainable solutions,” Nandwana [Vikas Nandwana, a senior research associate in Dravid’s laboratory] said. “Burning increases carbon emissions and dispersants are terribly harmful for marine wildlife. Skimmers don’t work in rough waters or with thin layers of oil. And sorbents are not only expensive, but they generate a huge amount of physical waste — similar to the diaper landfill issue.”

The Northwestern solution bypasses these challenges by selectively absorbing oil and leaving clean water and unaffected marine life behind. The secret lies in a nanocomposite coating of magnetic nanostructures and a carbon-based substrate that is oleophilic (attracts oil), hydrophobic (resists water) and magnetic. The nanocomposite’s nanoporous 3D structure selectively interacts with and binds to the oil molecules, capturing and storing the oil until it is squeezed out. The magnetic nanostructures give the smart sponge two additional functionalities: controlled movement in the presence of an external magnetic field and desorption of adsorbed components, such as oil, in a simulated and remote manner.

The OHM (oleophilic hydrophobic magnetic) nanocomposite slurry can be used to coat any cheap, commercially available sponge. The researchers applied a thin coating of the slurry to the sponge, squeezed out the excess and let it dry. The sponge is quickly and easily converted into a smart sponge (or “OHM sponge”) with a selective affinity for oil.

Vinayak and his team tested the OHM sponge with many different types of crude oils of varying density and viscosity. The OHM sponge consistently absorbed up to 30 times its weight in oil, leaving the water behind. To mimic natural waves, researchers put the OHM sponge on a shaker submerged in water. Even after vigorous shaking, the sponge release less than 1% of its absorbed oil back into the water.

“Our sponge works effectively in diverse and extreme aquatic conditions that have different pH and salinity levels,” Dravid said. “We believe we can address a giga-ton problem with a nanoscale solution.”

“We are excited to introduce such smart sponges as an environmental remediation platform for selectively removing and recovering pollutants present in water, soil and air, such as excess nutrients, heavy metal contaminants, VOC/toxins and others,” Nandwana said. “The nanostructure coating can be tailored to selectively adsorb (and later desorb) these pollutants.”

The team also is working on another grade of OHM sponge that can selectively absorb (and later recover) excess dissolved nutrients, such as phosphates, from fertilizer runoff and agricultural pollution. Stephanie Ribet, a Ph.D. candidate in Dravid’s lab and paper coauthor is pursuing this topic. The team plans to develop and commercialize OHM technology for environmental clean-up.

Bravo to professor Vinayak Dravid and his team. I’m sure I’m not alone in wishing you and your team the best of luck as you continue to develop this remediation technology.

Here’s a link to and a citation for the paper,

OHM Sponge: A Versatile, Efficient, and Ecofriendly Environmental Remediation Platform by Vikas Nandwana, Stephanie M. Ribet, Roberto D. Reis, Yuyao Kuang, Yash More, and Vinayak P. Dravid. Ind. Eng. Chem. Res. 2020, XXXX, XXX, XXX-XXX DOI: https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.iecr.0c01493 Publication Date:May 12, 2020 Copyright © 2020 American Chemical Society

This paper is behind a paywall.

‘Smart dress’ for oil-degrading bacteria (marine oil spill remediation)

This July 22, 2016 news item (on Nanowerk) about bacteria and marine oil spill remediation was a little challenging (for me) to read (Note: A link has been removed),

Bionanotechnology research is targeted on functional structures synergistically combining macromolecules, cells, or multicellular assemblies with a wide range of nanomaterials. Providing micrometer-sized cells with tiny nanodevices expands the uses of the cultured microorganisms and requires nanoassembly on individual live cells (“Nanoshell Assembly for Magnet-Responsive Oil-Degrading Bacteria”).

Surface engineering functionalizes the cell walls with polymer layers and/or nanosized particles and has been widely employed to modify the intrinsic properties of microbial cells. Cell encapsulation allows fabricating live microbial cells with magnetic nanoparticles onto cell walls, which mimics natural magnetotactic bacteria.

For this study researchers from Kazan Federal University and Louisiana Tech University chose Alcanivorax borkumensis marine bacteria as a target microorganism for cell surface engineering with magnetic nanoparticles for the following reasons: (1) these hydrocarbon-degrading bacteria are regarded as an important tool in marine oil spill remediation and potentially can be used in industrial oil-processing bioreactors, therefore the external magnetic manipulations with these cells seems to be practically relevant; (2) A. borkumensis are marine Gram-negative species having relatively fragile and thin cell walls, which makes cell wall engineering of these bacteria particularly challenging.

Rendering oil-degrading bacteria with artificially added magnetic functionality is important to attenuate their properties and to expand their practical use.

[downloaded from http://pubs.acs.org/doi/abs/10.1021/acs.langmuir.6b01743]

[downloaded from http://pubs.acs.org/doi/abs/10.1021/acs.langmuir.6b01743]

A July 22, 2016 Kazan Federal University (Russia) press release (also on EurekAlert), which originated the news item, has more detail about the research,

Cell surface engineering was performed using polycation-coated magnetic nanoparticles, which is a fast and straightforward process utilizing the direct deposition of positively charged iron oxide nanoparticles onto microbial cells during a brief incubation in excessive concentrations of nanoparticles. Gram-negative bacteria cell walls are built from the thin peptidoglycan layer sandwiched between the outer membrane and inner plasma membrane, with lipopolysaccharides rendering the overall negative cell charge, therefore cationic particles will attach to the cell walls due to electrostatic interactions.

Rod-like 0.5-μm diameter Gram-negative bacteria A. borkumensis were coated with 70?100 nm [sic] magnetite shells. The deposition of nanoparticles was performed with extreme care to ensure the survival of magnetized cells.

The development of biofilms on hydrophobic surface is a very important feature of A. borkumensis cells because this is how these cells attach to the oil droplets in natural environments. Consequently, any cell surface modification should not reduce their ability to attach and proliferate as biofilms. Here, at all concentrations of PAH- magnetite nanoparticles investigated, authors of the study detected the similar biofilm growth patterns. Overall, the magnetized cells were able to proliferate and exhibited normal physiological activity.

The next generations of the bacteria have a tendency to remove the artificial shell returning to the native form. Such magnetic nanoencapsulation may be used for the A. borkumensis transportation in the bioreactors to enhance the spill oil decomposition at certain locations.

If I read this rightly, the idea, in future iterations of this research, is to destroy the oil once it’s been gathered by the biofilm. This seems a different approach where other oil spill remediation techniques have hydrophobic/oleophilic sponges absorbing the oil, which could potentially be used in the future. There are carbon nanotube sponges (my April 17, 2012 posting) and boron nitride sponges (my Dec. 7, 2015 posting).

Here’s a link to and a citation for the paper,

Nanoshell Assembly for Magnet-Responsive Oil-Degrading Bacteria by Svetlana A. Konnova, Yuri M. Lvov, and Rawil F. Fakhrullin. Langmuir, Article ASAP DOI: 10.1021/acs.langmuir.6b01743 Publication Date (Web): June 09, 2016

Copyright © 2016 American Chemical Society

This paper is behind a paywall.

Directa Plus unleashes graphene-based mobile decontamination units

I’ve been covering Directa Plus stories for a little over a year now (my Dec. 17, 2014 posting titled: Water purification, Italy, Romania, and graphene and my May 25, 2015 posting titled: A GEnIuS approach to oil spill remediation at 18th European Forum on Eco-innovation. The product that most interests me is the graphene-based environmental decontamination unit, Grafysorber. Happily it is now being offered commercially according to a Dec. 18, 2015 Directa Plus press release found on Business Wire (and a PDF news release, you will need to download, can be found on the company’s website here),

Directa Plus (“Directa or “the Company”), one of the largest producers and suppliers of graphene for use in consumer and industrial products, is pleased to announce the global commercial launch of the Grafysorber™ Decontamination Unit, the world’s first graphene-based system for tackling environmental emergencies such as oil spills. The launch follows successful industrial remediation activities conducted in Italy and Romania.

The Company is also pleased to announce that Biocart S.r.l., an Italian company engaged in the research, development and industrialisation of next-generation materials and solutions for the mitigation of natural disasters and environmental remediation, has purchased the first three mobile units.

Giulio Cesareo, Chief Executive Officer of Directa, said: “We are pleased to launch the Grafysorber™ Decontamination Unit that will enable a prompt and effective response to a potential catastrophe such as an oil spill – and so help avoid a major environmental disaster. Due to the mobile nature of the unit, it can be stored nearer to an area where an event may occur, thereby reducing the time and costs ordinarily associated with the transportation of a solution.”

The Grafysorber™ Decontamination Unit contains a proprietary and patented plasma machine that is able to produce on site all the Grafysorber™ needed to clean up water contaminated with the harmful hydrocarbons contained in oil spills. As it is a mobile unit, it can be quickly deployed to the site of the spill.

During 2015, two industrial remediation activities have been carried out with GrafysorberTM, treating approximately 35,000m3 of water contaminated with petroleum hydrocarbons. Less than 5g/m3 of GrafysorberTM were able to remove the hydrocarbon contaminants, reducing the concentration from 550mg/l to a safe level of approximately 0.5mg/l, with a significant cost reduction of 50-60% compared with traditional technologies.

Grafysorber™ is a sustainable product as it enables the recovery and recycling of the adsorbed oils; it is recyclable; and it does not contain any toxic substances. The ability to produce the graphene on site and in the right quantity renders it a very cost-effective solution compared with conventional solutions. Grafysorber™ has received approval from the Ministry of Environment in Italy and in Romania.

“This is an important step for Directa Plus as we unveil another significant application for graphene-based solutions. It has been achieved due to our technical strength and proprietary process for producing graphene in various forms in a cost effective manner. The ability of the Grafysorber™ Decontamination Unit to produce all the graphene necessary to purify the contaminated water directly at the site of use can be easily replicated and applied to other emergency scenarios. The initial demand that we have already received for this product provides further evidence that graphene has left the laboratory and is ready for mass adoption,” added Giulio Cesareo.

I look forward to hearing more about this product as it is put into use.

A GEnIuS approach to oil spill remediation at 18th European Forum on Eco-innovation

In light of recent local events (an oil spill in Vancouver’s [Canada] English Bay, a popular local beach [more details in my April 16, 2015 post]), it seems appropriate to mention an* environmentally friendly solution to mopping up oil spills (oil spill remediation). A May 21, 2015 news item on Azonano features a presentation on the topic at hand (Note: A link has been removed),

Directa Plus at 18th European Forum on Eco-innovation to present GEnIuS, the innovative project that leads to the creation of a graphene-based product able to remove hydrocarbons from polluted water and soil.

The Forum untitled “Boosting competitiveness and innovation” is being held by the European Commission on 20th and 21st of May in Barcelona. The main purpose of this event is presenting the last developments in the eco-innovation field: an important moment where emerging and cutting-edge innovators will get in contact with new promising solutions under political, financial and technological point of view.

Directa Plus research has driven to the creation of an ecologic, innovative and highly effective oil-adsorbent, characterized by unique performances in oil adsorbency, and at the same time absence of toxicity and flammability, and the possibility to recover oil.

The creation of this graphene-based oil-adsorbent product, commercialized as Grafysorber, has been promoted by GEnIuS project and already approved by the Italian Ministry of Enviroment to be used in occasion of oil spills clean-up activities.

Giulio Cesareo, Directa Plus President and CEO, commented:

“Grafysorber embodies the nano-carbon paradox -in fact, with a nano-carbon material we are able to cut down part of damages caused by hydrocarbons, derived from carbon itself.

“Moreover, our product, once exhausted after depuration of water, finishes positively its life cycle inside the asphalt and bitumen, introducing new properties as thermal conductivity and mechanical reinforcement. I believe that every company is obliged to work following a sustainable approach to guarantee a balanced use of resources and their reuse, where possible.”

I have mentioned a Romanian project employing Directa Plus’s solution, Grafysorber in a December 30, 2014 post. At the time, the product name was called Graphene Plus and Grafysorber was a constituent of the product.

You can find more information about Graphene Eco Innovative Sorbent (GENIUS) here and about Directa Plus here. The company is located in Italy.

One final bit about oil spills and remediation, the Deepwater Horizon/Gulf/BP oil spill has spawned, amongst many others, a paper from the University of Georgia (US) noting that we don’t know that much about the dispersants used to clean up, from a May 14, 2015 University of Georgia news release on EurekAlert,

New commentary in Nature Reviews Microbiology by Samantha Joye of the University of Georgia and her colleagues argues for further in-depth assessments of the impacts of dispersants on microorganisms to guide their use in response to future oil spills.

Chemical dispersants are widely used in emergency responses to oil spills in marine environments as a means of stimulating microbial degradation of oil. After the Deepwater Horizon spill in 2010, dispersants were applied to the sea surface and deep waters of the Gulf of Mexico, the latter of which was unprecedented. Dispersants were used as a first line of defense even though little is known about how they affect microbial communities or the biodegradation activities they are intended to spur.

The researchers document historical context for the use of dispersants, their approval by the Environmental Protection Agency and the uncertainty about whether they stimulate or in fact inhibit the microbial degradation of oil in marine ecosystems.

One challenge of testing the toxicity from the use of dispersants on the broader ecosystem is the complex microbial communities of the different habitats represented in a large marine environment, such as the Gulf of Mexico. Development of model microbial communities and type species that reflect the composition of surface water, deep water, deep-sea sediments, beach sediments and marsh sediments is needed to evaluate the toxicity effects of dispersants.

“The bottom line is that we do not truly understand the full range of impacts that dispersants have on microbial communities, and we must have this knowledge in hand before the next marine oil spill occurs to support the decision-making process by the response community,” Joye said.

I hope the Canadians who are overseeing our waterways are taking note.

*’a’ changed to ‘an’ for grammatical correctness on Dec. 18, 2015.

Water purification, Italy, Romania, and graphene

I’m hauling some of the material out of my backlog for publication as I clear the decks for 2015 including this Dec. 17, 2014 news item on Nanowerk about water remediation,

Graphene Plus materials have an amazing capacity for adsorbing organic pollutants such as hydrocarbons from water, soils and air. Directa Plus has already certified the removal capacity of Graphene Plus for floating oils in water and has obtained the approval of the Italian Environmental Ministry for the use these products in oil spills clean-up activities. Graphene Plus is also object of GEnIuS (Graphene Eco Innovative Sorbent), a Directa Plus’ project co-founded by European Union within the Eco-Innovation initiative. The project aims to launch into real markets an innovative solution for water treatment based on graphene.

A Dec. 17, 2014 Directa Plus press release, which originated the news item, describes how a Romanian company has tested the effectiveness of Graphene Plus for water remediation,

Directa Plus has found in SetCar – a Romanian company with fourteen years of activity in decontamination and disposal of hazardous waste – an ideal partner for testing environmental applications of Graphene Plus materials, especially in environmental remediation.

Since summer 2014, SetCar has tested on laboratory scale Graphene Plus materials as adsorbents for different type of organic pollutants. The most impressive laboratory results have been obtained with Grafysorber™ and have encouraged pilot test in hydrocarbons removal from contaminated waters.

The first treatment project started on 14th October, 2014, inside a Romanian former refinery site, containing a basin with about 16 500 m3 of water contaminated with petroleum hydrocarbons. The initial hydrocarbons concentration in water was about 56 ppm (3 drops of oil inside 1 litre of water), which means more than 1 tonne of pollutants that must be removed. The hydrocarbons maximum concentration necessary for the discharge of treated water into superficial aquatic ecosystems is 5 ppm.

“5 g/m3 of Grafysorber™ were able to bring the hydrocarbons concentration down to 1 ppm or lower and in only 10 minutes of contacts with the contaminated water! – says Eng. Covaci Melchisedec, Technical Manager of SetCar SA – We worked with a flow rate of 16 m3/h (daily flow rate of 360 -390 m3) in 2 consecutive batches of 4 m3. The total quantity of Grafysorber™ used in this project, which is now concluded, was 80 kg. In next projects, we have planned to implement the productivity of our treatment plant for low concentration hydrocarbons removal till 50 m3/h.”

Giulio Cesareo, President and CEO of Directa Plus shows his satisfaction for this collaboration and says “Our company needs partners such as SetCar SA. Setcar SA has a solid experience in decontamination field but, at the same time, a consolidate team of more than 50 engineers. Thanks to SetCar pilot test we obtained the real evidence that Grafysorber™ is an effective solution for decontamination of water containing hydrocarbons at low concentration”.

The Commercial Director of SetCar SA, Sandu Balan adds “We want to explore Graphene Plus potentiality in removing different type of pollutants from real contaminated water, soils and air and use it in other international projects of decontamination”.

Directa Plus, founded in 2005 and with headquarters in the ComoNext Science and Technology Park in Lomazzo (CO), is a technology company pursuing the development and marketing innovative manufacturing processes for the production of a new generation of nanomaterials targeting existing global markets. On June 23rd, 2014, Directa Plus opened its “Graphene Factory”, a new industrial centre distinguished for being the largest production plant in Europe of pristine graphene nanoplatelets, based on a patented and granted technology and designed according to a modular, replicable and exportable logic. The first module has 30-tonnes per year production capacity. To date, Directa Plus holds 26 granted patents and 19 patents pending. …

Setcar S.A. Established in 1994 as a joint stock company with entirely Rumanian private capital, the company is been developing since 2000 the range of services aimed to solve the environment issues, having as permanent concern the supply of a complete range of services, from chemical analyses for waste identification or, by creating new technologies, up to hazardous waste disposal or bringing the contaminated site to initial condition. …

You can find out more about Directa Plus here and about SetCar here (you will need your Romanian language skills as I cannot find an English language version of the site).