| | Category | EV | L16 | Oil in Water: Freshwater Lessons from the Gulf Oil Disaster |
| | Abstract | The purpose of this experiment is to discover if recycled materials can |
| | work as adsorbent oil boom material in cleaning oil from water. Oil spills, |
| | both saltwater and freshwater, have dominated the news and legislative |
| | agenda in the last year. Cleaning up an oil spill is no easy task; it takes |
| | significant amounts of time, talent and resources. Today there are several |
| | different ways to clean up an oil spill, many of which can cause additional |
| | environmental damage as oil adsorbents are collected and disposed of |
| | following collection of the spilled oil. |
| | Crude oil is difficult to obtain and is very difficult to dispose of. The |
| | properties of mineral oil are similar to those of crude oil and mineral oil is |
| | both easily obtained and easily disposed of. Recyclable materials are |
| | easily obtained and easily disposed of using a local recycling program. |
| | The recyclable materials that were used were human hair, plastic |
| | (polyethylene) bags, and recycled fishing line. This experiment was done |
| | using the American Society for Testing and Materials method number |
| | F726-06 Standard Test Method for Sorbent Performance of Adsorbents. |
| | Research was conducted to determine the materials which perform well in |
| | adsorbing oil. Additional research was conducted to evaluate the |
| | effectiveness of the most adsorbent materials to see if there was a |
| | discernable difference in the oil adsorbency rate between saltwater and |
| | freshwater. |
| | The results of this experiment proved the hypothesis, that the recycled |
| | materials did work as adsorbents and the plastic bags even outperformed |
| | the existing adsorbents. These results proved both questions of the |
| | hypothesis and left room for additional research into the questions. |
| | Bibliography | ASTM International. 2006. “Standard Test Method for Sorbent Performance |
| | of Adsorbents”. Web January 1, 2011. www.astm.org. |
| | EPA. "Response Techniques | Emergency Management | US EPA." US |
| | Environmental Protection Agency. US Environmental Protection Agency, |
| | 2009. Web. 1 Jan. 2011. |
| | <http://www.epa.gov/oem/content/learning/oiltech.htm>. |
| | "Gulf Oil Spill | National Geographic Channel." National Geographic Channel |
| | - Animals, Science, Exploration Television Shows. Ed. Mike Green. 2010. |
| | Web. 1 Jan. 2011. <http://channel.nationalgeographic.com/episode/gulf-oil- |
| | spill-5488/Overview#tab-Overview>. |
| | Integrated Paper Services, Inc (IPS). "Oil Boom Testing (ASTM F 726-06)." |
| | IPS Testing. Web. 1 Jan. 2011. |
| | <http://www.ipstesting.com/LinkClick.aspx?fileticket=ctVZMo8Rtys%3D&t |
| | abid=76>. |
| | Johnson, R. 2001. “MiniBooNE Mineral Oil Technical Specification Version |
| | 2”. Web January 1, 2001. http://home.fnal.gov/~randy/tech_specs.html |
| | Robinson, Richard A. The Gulf of Mexico Oil Disaster: A Case Study on |
| | the. Diss. University of Nevada, Las Vegas, 2010. Las Vegas: University |
| | of Nevada, Las Vegas, 2010. UNLV University Library. University of |
| | Nevada, Las Vegas, 1 Aug. 2010. Web. 1 Jan. 2011. |
| | <http://digitalcommons.library.unlv.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1567&c |
| | ontext=thesesdissertations>. |
| | US EPA. "EPA Response to Enbridge Spill in Michigan | US EPA." US |
| | Environmental Protection Agency. US Environmental Protection Agency, |
| | 2010. Web. 1 Jan. 2011. <http://www.epa.gov/enbridgespill/>. |