Possible Oil Spill Clean-up Solution?

[DEEKAYPEE8569]

Did anybody see Leno Wednesday night?

This guy; never heard of him before; demonstrated a nylon "bag", for lack of a better word; full of alpaca wool in a tube shape.
He demonstrated this "bag" in a glass aquarium with motor oil poured into it.

He put the bag on top of the water/oil and rolled it and the oil was absorbed into the bag. This guy went on to explain the mechanics of the alpaca wool; actually, the structure of the fiber; hollow; which is why/how alpaca wool worked.

I thought it was neat. :shrug:

 

[aps45819]

Then what? Burning oil soaked wool would really stink.


Meanwhile, The Whale isn't in use because the amount of oil in the water it discharges exceeds the EPA's allowed 15 parts per million

 

[Pushrod]

Then what? Burning oil soaked wool would really stink.


Meanwhile, The Whale isn't in use because the amount of oil in the water it discharges exceeds the EPA's allowed 15 parts per million

Yeah, the failed logic of this just blows my mind! This administration fails on every front they push.

As far as the Alpaca wool, there is probably not enough Alpacas in the world to soak up even one 10th of the oil in the gulf, and that would even include throwing the entire Alpaca population into the ocean attached to tow lines.

 

[GWguy]

Did anybody see Leno Wednesday night?

This guy; never heard of him before; demonstrated a nylon "bag", for lack of a better word; full of alpaca wool in a tube shape.
He demonstrated this "bag" in a glass aquarium with motor oil poured into it.

He put the bag on top of the water/oil and rolled it and the oil was absorbed into the bag. This guy went on to explain the mechanics of the alpaca wool; actually, the structure of the fiber; hollow; which is why/how alpaca wool worked.

I thought it was neat. :shrug:

Nylon bag..... tube shaped..... absorbent material.... lay it on the surface of the water....

Isn't there about 15 million miles of that already in use? I think they call it "boom".

All of the inventions people have come up with work fine in an aquarium, but just don't cut it when it has to be scaled to cover the size of the Gulf. In this case, how much Alpaca wool can you get? Enough to be useful? And how do you dispose of it once it's contaminated? At least the boom material can be burned (not a great option either, but....)

 

[StadEMS3]

I heard salons and barber shops were saving hair for the same concept?

 

[Bay_Kat]

I heard salons and barber shops were saving hair for the same concept?

Pet groomers also, any hair will work, just the fact of what to do with all the oil soaked hair "tubes".

It's getting really old now (has been for a while). I'm so sick of picking up the paper or turning on the news and hearing another "set back". It's starting to be a daily thing now, God help us if we get a huge hurricane down here.

 

[White Buddah]

Pet groomers also, any hair will work, just the fact of what to do with all the oil soaked hair "tubes".

It's getting really old now (has been for a while). I'm so sick of picking up the paper or turning on the news and hearing another "set back". It's starting to be a daily thing now, God help us WHEN we get ANY hurricane down here.

<fixed>
It's going to happen.

 

[DEEKAYPEE8569]

Nylon bag..... tube shaped..... absorbent material.... lay it on the surface of the water....

Isn't there about 15 million miles of that already in use? I think they call it "boom".

All of the inventions people have come up with work fine in an aquarium, but just don't cut it when it has to be scaled to cover the size of the Gulf. In this case, how much Alpaca wool can you get? Enough to be useful? And how do you dispose of it once it's contaminated? At least the boom material can be burned (not a great option either, but....)

Well, this guy didn't go into all that. He just demonstrated the idea.
IMO, it's feasable but not possible.

 

[DEEKAYPEE8569]

Then what? Burning oil soaked wool would really stink.

Probably; but don't you think that even if this idea was implemented on the grand scale, the one's that use it would figure a way to extract the oil from the material?

I know..... how 'bout a GIANT bottle of Dawn dish soap? :shrug:

 

[Tilted]

Pet groomers also, any hair will work, just the fact of what to do with all the oil soaked hair "tubes".

It's getting really old now (has been for a while). I'm so sick of picking up the paper or turning on the news and hearing another "set back". It's starting to be a daily thing now, God help us if we get a huge hurricane down here.

The first relief well is at almost 18,000 feet, so :fingerscrossed: they should be able to get this well killed fairly soon. BP is trying to dampen speculation that they might beat the August projection for getting it capped, but I'm guessing they will - that they'll have it capped in 2 to 3 weeks. Let's hope.