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Smart coating could make oil spill cleanup faster, more efficient
May 30, 2014
A new coating that easily separates oil from water could make oil cleanup faster. Image: American Chemical Society
In the wake of recent offshore oil spills, and with the growing popularity of “fracking”—in which water is used to release oil and gas from shale—there’s a need for easy, quick ways to separate oil and water. Now, scientists have developed coatings that can do just that. Their report on the materials, which also could stop surfaces from getting foggy and dirty, appears in ACS Applied Materials & Interfaces.
J.P.S. Badyal and colleagues point out that oil-spill cleanup crews often use absorbents, like clays, straw and wool to sop up oil, but these materials aren’t very efficient because they also sop up a lot of water. Extra steps and equipment also are needed to remove the oil from the absorbent, which is difficult to do on a ship. Recently, researchers have turned their attention to new smart materials called “oleophobic-hydrophilic” coatings that instead let the water through and repel the oil. However, the films that have been reported so far take several minutes to do the separation, are complicated to make or aren’t very good at repelling oil. So, Badyal’s team set out to improve these materials.
DOE Releases report on Environmental Impacts of Unconventional Natural Gas Development and Production
May 30, 2014
The recent growth in unconventional natural gas production has also produced a profusion of publications on the exploration, development, production, infrastructure, economics, uses, and environmental impacts of these resources. These publications build on a strong body of existing literature that traces the evolution of these resources from their conceptual stages in the 1970s to the technology advancements that started the shale gas boom in the early 2000s. Between 2009 and 2013, government, industry, academic, scientific, non-governmental, and citizen organizations have added a substantial body of literature on the environmental impacts that could result from the continuing development of shale gas, tight gas sands, and coalbed methane resources.
This report summarizes the current state of published descriptions of the potential environmental impacts of unconventional natural gas upstream operations within the Lower 48 United States. As a survey, this report is by no means exhaustive. The goal of this report is to ensure that the predominant concerns about unconventional natural gas development, as covered by current literature, are identified and described. The sources cited are publicly available documents. Multiple publications on similar topics are compared and contrasted based only on their technical and methodological distinctions. No opinion or endorsement of these works is intended or implied.
Canada Seeks Tightened Marine Oil Spill Plan
May 14, 2014
Canada moved on Tuesday to strengthen its response plan for oil spills at sea ahead of the development of new pipelines that would sharply increase tanker traffic in Canadian waters if they are built.
Among the new measures, the federal government said it would remove a per-incident liability cap on a domestic clean-up fund, which means that all the money in the fund could be made available to clean up a single spill. It also pledged to cover spill costs if clean-up funds were exhausted.
It also said it will lift its ban on the use of dispersants in cases when using them offers a net environmental benefit. Dispersants are chemicals that break down oil slicks but can also harm marine life.
Eight states set goal of 3.3M zero-pollution cars
May 30, 2014
Eight states, including California and New York, are vowing to collaborate to put 3.3 million electric cars on their roads and highways by 2025.
The eight are looking to step up public charging stations for electric cars and increase hydrogen fueling stations in a bid to create more incentive for consumers to ditch their gas-powered cars in the favor of electrics or hydrogen fuel cells.
Panel Says US Not Adequately Equipped to Handle Oil Spills
April 28, 2014
The National Research Council (NRC) says that the United States is not adequately equipped to effectively respond to oil spills, according to their new report.
Amidst a changing climate, this raises concern, given that the US Arctic Waters are more exposed to commercial activities such as shipping, oil and gas development and tourism. More response tools are needed to address such events, but not all of them are readily available.
For example, 25 years after the infamous Exxon Valdez oil spill in Prince William Sound, beaches on the Alaska Peninsula hundreds of kilometers from the incident still harbor small hidden pockets of surprisingly unchanged oil, according to an American Geophysical Union press release.