SBIR-STTR Award

Contamination of waters by spilled petroleum products, liquid hydrocarbons, continues to be a frustration to those responsible for oil transport and the environment Presently, all remedialion methods, including natural, chemical, and mechanical, have limitations. In particular, adsorbents did adsorb oil onto problems. Sea Sweep, Inc., has developed and conducted preliminary tests on an absorbent maerial, called "Sea Sw@. Sea SweW is oloophilic and, therefore, absorbs oil. It is also hydrophobic and floats on water. It is made from sawdust in a thermolytic process and is biodegradable. Particles of Sea SweeV can be easily removed from water, or they will be degraded with minimum harm to the en . ronment because the oil is held inside each particle. vl Preliminary laboratory tests show dw no visible oil. s after application of Sea SweelF. remain The proposal is designed to find (1) the optimum method of preparation of the absorbent for representative oil viscosities, (2) the optimum particle size for absorption of various hydrocarbons, (3) potential toxicity of the absorbent material, and (4) the degree of water contamination remaining after removal of particles saturated with hydrocarbons.

Spilled hydrocarbons and chemicals are a major problem both on water and land. Currently many available manufactured sorbents adsorb these materials allowing leaching, and they are not biodegradable.A new, non-toxic, biodegradable absorbent, "Sea Sweep", has been developed to absorb hydrocarbons. It is by thermal treatment of a woody biomass (sawdust, pin chips, shavings). The hydrocarbons are absorbed into the open cellular structure of the biomass.In Phase I, Sea Sweep, Inc. showed that Sea Sweep has a high rate of absorption of hydrocarbons, does not leach and is non-toxic to marine organisms. Once saturated with hydrocarbons, it, being hydrophobic, will remain floating indefinitely.In Phase II, it will be necessary to determine the effects of using widely available sources of other forms of woody biomass; the optimum disposal of saturated Sea Sweep by incineration, or using other methods such as thermal treatment, centrifugation, and solvent extraction to recover hydrocarbons and possibly enable reuse of the absorbent material. This would include measurement of absorption rates and absorbent behavior of commercial chemicals and the determination of important fundamental mechanical and chemical properties of Sea Sweep.