Oil Spill Remediation

Background

As long as fossil fuels are being used, oil spills will remain a major hazard to the health of marine ecosystems. Oil spills negatively impact both the environment and the surrounding communities, and 2021, Canada reported 17 651 litres in marine oil spills alone [1]. Sorption of oil is considered the most effective solution, but studies have shown that after 5 days, 50% of spilled oil becomes oxidized by sunlight and the efficiency of sorption reduces by 30%, extending the clean-up time and expanding the negative impact of spilled oil [2].

Solution

Cellulose-aerogels are an emerging field of biomaterial research due to their porous, low-density, flexible nature [3]. Our team’s focus is to develop an oil-absorbing cellulose-aerogel from recycled paper, using chemicals that are environmentally friendly and sourced from industrial waste. We consider scalability at every step of the research’s development, because we want to present a solution that can be implemented globally.

Team Leads

References

[1] “Marine oil spills,” Canada.ca, 2024. Available: https://www.canada.ca/en/environment-climate-change/services/environmental-indicators/marine-oil-spills.html

[2] Photochemical Oxidation of Oil Reduced the Effectiveness of Aerial Dispersants Applied in Response to the Deepwater Horizon Spill

Collin P. Ward, Cassia J. Armstrong, Robyn N. Conmy, Deborah P. French-McCay, and Christopher M. Reddy

Environmental Science & Technology Letters 2018 5 (5), 226-231

DOI: 10.1021/acs.estlett.8b00084

[3] Cellulose Aerogel from Paper Waste for Crude Oil Spill Cleaning

Son T. Nguyen, Jingduo Feng, Nhat T. Le, Ai T. T. Le, Nguyen Hoang, Vincent B. C. Tan, and Hai M. Duong

Industrial & Engineering Chemistry Research 2013 52 (51), 18386-18391

DOI: 10.1021/ie4032567