Inside Texas Tech: Cotton Technology Aims to Clean Oil

Inside Texas Tech: Cotton Technology Aims to Clean Oil-Affected Waters | KTTZ
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WED MARCH 18, 2015
Inside Texas Tech: Cotton Technology Aims
to Clean Oil-Affected Waters
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Credit Luis Alejandro Bernal Romero / Flickr/Creative Commons
During the Deepwater Horizon oil spill in 2010, nearly 5 million gallons of crude oil
was spewed into the Gulf of Mexico, making it the largest oil spill in U.S. history.
The main cleanup method for the Deepwater Horizon oil was a chemical dispersant
known as Corexit, which emulsifies leaked oil and allows degradation by bacteria in
the water, preventing oil spill side effects like tarballs.
But among claims that Corexit is toxic to marine life and increases its toxicity, cleanup
authorities had to look elsewhere for ways to purify Gulf waters.
Scientists 970 miles away in Lubbock, Texas, were developing what could be an
alternative cleanup method - made of cotton.
Seshadri Ramkumar, the developer of Fibertect, said the product is a specially
constructed cotton and carbon pad. Sandwiched layers - cotton, then carbon, then
another layer of cotton - perform multiple functions in the cleanup process.
“We make a composite, sandwich fiber product, which is three or many layers,”
Ramkumar said. “The middle layer is the heart of the technology, which is a porous
carbon. For instance, if we have cotton in the raw form on the top layer, and [then] the
middle carbon, the cotton will take the oil. But the vapors - particularly if it’s a crude
oil vapor that are harmful to humans - the middle carbon will hold the vapors, and the
top cotton will take the oil in the liquid forms.”
Ramkumar, a material scientist and researcher in chemical toxins and warfare,
developed the technology at Texas Tech, who owns the patent.
While the technology is particularly effective in cleanups of oil spills like the Gulf
disaster in 2010, it has deep roots in West Texas cotton production. Using cotton
produced in the South Plains makes the product biodegradable, another plus in the
already-ravaged Gulf waters.
Ramkumar said other fibers would also work to absorb escaped oil vapors, but raw
cotton is uniquely suited to the task, along with activated charcoal, which absorbs
liquid oil.
Fibertect wasn’t used in the cleanup of the Deepwater Horizon oil spill due to ongoing
research and development, but Ramkumar said the basic technology was considered in
the cleanup. Now that the technology is fully developed, Ramkumar said Fibertect
could be a possibility in the event of another spill like 2010’s, and other applications as
well.
“Provided that the costing works out, I think it could be finding applications and nondefense applications as well.”
Along with its environmentally minded purposes, Ramkumar said the technology
makes the cleanups of such disasters safer for volunteers and workers.
“[Fibertect aims] to create a product which could help the soldiers and law
enforcement personnel and then protect them against the toxic vapors and toxic
chemicals which they encounter on a daily basis.”
TAGS:
Inside Texas Tech
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Cotton
oil spill
Deepwater Horizon
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