Of course, the following is not all good news; perhaps this should be filed under every silver lining having a cloud around it, as Argonne Nat'l Lab is under the budget-cutting knife. But:
Read the following and esp. watch their demonstration video. ANL has developed a way to infuse a fairly standard polyurethane sponge with certain hard metal oxides. It is those oxides which then "hang on" to specific oleophilic substances. The resulting sponge has an unquenchable affinity for long-chain hydrocarbons...¿remember those?...and, just as importantly, the sponge can be squeezed out and re-used...apparently limitlessly. The researchers report they have cycled it hundreds of times with zero loss of efficacy.
Article and videoing here: Argonne invents reusable sponge that soaks up oil, could revolutionize oil spill and diesel cleanup | Argonne National Laboratory
Read the following and esp. watch their demonstration video. ANL has developed a way to infuse a fairly standard polyurethane sponge with certain hard metal oxides. It is those oxides which then "hang on" to specific oleophilic substances. The resulting sponge has an unquenchable affinity for long-chain hydrocarbons...¿remember those?...and, just as importantly, the sponge can be squeezed out and re-used...apparently limitlessly. The researchers report they have cycled it hundreds of times with zero loss of efficacy.
Article and videoing here: Argonne invents reusable sponge that soaks up oil, could revolutionize oil spill and diesel cleanup | Argonne National Laboratory
