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 concept was considered for use 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 non-defense 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.”
