Oil spill is a major form of pollution and has negative impacts upon the marine environment. In order to face its affects, scientists from Flinders University in Adelaide along with the Australian Government and other collaborators, developed a material which can absorb oil spills.
In fact, the “sustainable polysulfides” product is made from waste cooking oil and sulphur and can soak up three times its mass in oil or diesel.
Moreover, the “sponge” material is hydrophobic since it avoids water and absorbs oil.
The oil sorbents are low‐cost, scalable, and enable the efficient removal and recovery of oil from water. The key material is an elastic and porous copolymer made from the direct reaction of sulfur and unsaturated seed oils such as canola oil, with inexpensive sodium chloride crystals serving as a porogen to impart higher surface area to the polymer.
…said Flinders University’s scientists.
In light of the situation, Flinders University and Singapore’s Clean Earth Technologies recently shake their hands and agreed to establish a manufacturing facility in South Australia which will further produce commercial quantities of the absorbent polysulfide.
Devastating oil spills, growing piles of e-waste and toxic mercury pollution are serious issues facing the majority of countries around the world and come with significant financial, social and environmental costs.
…CET Chairman and Co-Founder, Paul Hanna concluded.
