Water and Oil Everywhere, and Now it's Safe to Drink

Developer demonstrates oil filtration technology tested in 2010 Gulf of Mexico oil spill

Clean water being passed over a vibratory separator after treatment with Osorb^®.

Building upon research conducted during the 2010 Deepwater Horizon oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico, engineers have incorporated a swellable nano-structured glass called Osorb^®into a system for extracting pollutants like dissolved petroleum from water--and collecting the petroleum for later use. 

During a webcast from the National Science Foundation, developer Paul Edmiston of the College of Wooster will demonstrate the new application for the Osorb^® technology and discuss how it is being evaluated in the petroleum industry.

As part of the media briefing, Edmiston will conduct demonstrations to show how the material expands to eight times its original volume in the presence of hydrocarbons--expanding with a force that could lift 20,000 times its original weight--and filter a gasoline-tainted sample of drinking water for consumption.