The Solution to Oil Spills?

Figure 1. The process of photo thermal conversion that makes possible the absorption of high viscosity crude oil from the ocean.

 Over the years, there have been extremely disastrous and catastrophic oil spills in the ocean. These oil spills are very hard to clean up and cause a great disruption in the environment, considering the high viscosity and low fluidity of oil. Recently, there has been a discovery of an aerogel that has the ability to quickly absorb heavy oil by decreasing its high level of viscosity. This aerogel called SAGZM was made by using sodium alginate, which is a renewable material that has antibacterial properties and is eco friendly to the planet. It has been discovered that it has a better degree of biodegradability compa
red to other oil absorbents. SAGZM is highly efficient because of its high porosity, large surface area and the fact that it is highly efficient in the conversion of photothermal energy. This is an advantage because as SAGZM absorbs energy from the sunlight, oil is more easily absorbed. Conveniently, its low density allows SAGZM to float on the water surface, so it is frequently exposed to the sun rays and oil can be constantly absorbed. Another property of SAGZM is that it can absorb oil near its vicinity on the surface as well as oil that has already sunk because it is lipophilic. Overall, this novel aerogel shows great promise to become a viable and efficient solution to the disasters of oil spills.


Reference
Chen, X., Yang, Y., Guan, Y., Luo, C., Bao, M., & Li, Y. (2022). A solar-heated antibacterial sodium alginate aerogel for highly efficient cleanup of viscous oil spills. Journal of Colloid and Interface Science, 621, 241-253.

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