A new scheme developed by a professor at the University of Central Florida will see that oil from the Gulf spill be cleaned up using specially treated waste from electric power facilities across the state.
Prof. Sudipta Seal has been awarded a $67,000 grant from the National Science Foundation, which will help develop the waste material – known as flyash – into the appropriate cleaning agent. Prof. Seal will modify the refuse to make it more oil absorbent.
Once the flyash has absorbed the oil, it will be transported to a coal-burning facility for re-use. The waste will be able to preserve the crude oil’s energy-generating abilities making it reusable once it has been burnt off.
According to Prof. Seal, the process is entirely green and highly cost effective. As the director of UCF’s Advanced Materials Processing and Analysis and NanoScience Technology Centers, he has been studying the characteristics of flyash for over a decade during a larger study on rare earth nanoparticles.
By using a low-cost mesh packaging, it is envisioned that the flyash can be transported safely to the coal-burning power plant or other facilities that operate oil and fuel production processes. Prof. Seal will work alongside Larry Hench, a professor of ceramic matierals, to develop the deployment process.
Since the explosion on the Deepwater Horizon oil rig back in April, NSF has already funded up to 65 rapid response grants designed to allow researchers across the country to come up with alternative methods of cleaning up the large quanities of oil. The grants are designed specifically for times of natural or accidental disasters to allow scientists to adapt solutions quickly.
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