New technology offers profitable, holistic approach to oil-spill cleanup
27 January 2008 in HSE
Oil-spill remediation is typically a messy and costly endeavor, but a novel technology promises to make the process clean, quick and profitable. MOP Environmental Solutions' Maximum Oil Pickup (MOP) technology cleans up both onshore and offshore spills, and allows the operator to recover nearly all the oil for further processing.
The MOP technology is an absorbent material made from 100% recycled cellulose fibers that are treated to be hydrophobic and fire retardant. Its hydrophobic nature and fiber shape makes MOP an excellent remediation technology for all types of oil spills, according to company president Charles Diamond.
"MOP separates oil from water completely," says Diamond. "It has a 30:1 oil pickup ratio (lbm of oil absorbed relative to one lbm of sorbent), which is significantly higher than other comparable sorbents conventionally used." A MOP Environmental Solutions comparative analysis shows that polypropylene-based sorbents have the next-highest pickup ratio of only 13.7:1, while clay has a 1:1 ratio. [a video demonstrating MOP's oil-pickup efficiency is available on MOP Environmental Solutions' homepage]
According to Diamond, MOP is relatively easy to apply. "The deployment machinery, referred to as the MOP-CANNON, is inexpensive. Essentially, the MOP-CANNON is a blower-type machine that projects the MOP as a dry spray at high speeds, up to 150 mile/hr. This blower will deploy MOP a distance of at least 50 ft while still maintaining an even distribution." [see MOP-CANNON in action]
In a series of tests designed to evaluate the speed of deployment, the company found that one blower could apply enough MOP to neutralize the harmful effects of an oil spill at a rate of at least 1,000 bbl/hr. "That's a conservative estimate, and it can be as high as 1,500 bbl in one hour's time," Diamond confirms.
Different deployment scenarios exist depending on the ambient weather conditions. "We can spray MOP on top of a spill if the weather is cooperative," says Diamond. "For high-wind areas, we have a deployment method that allows us to bring our product in underneath the spill, essentially bubbling it into the spill."
The MOP sorbent immediately picks up any oil present and traps it in its fibers for relatively easy collection. "Onshore, the oil-laden sorbent can be collected with shovels, or in the case of larger spills, with bulldozers or other types of heavy-lift equipment," Diamond says. "In addition, the MOP contains a fine grit additive that immediately restores traction and safe footing on hard, slippery surfaces." Offshore pickup can be performed with skimmers dragged behind a boat.
MOP's efficiency is not limited to the size of the remediation project, and very large oil spills can be treated quickly. "While we have not cleaned up a spill as large as something like the Exxon Valdez [the March 1989 accident that spilled nearly 11 million gallons of oil into Alaska's Prince William Sound], we have estimated that 10 blower units, placed on fast-moving boats, could completely neutralize a Valdez-sized spill in about 24 hours," Diamond says.
The company has examined the hydrophobic nature of the MOP sorbent in a unique set of lab tests. "We have done some studies with bird's feathers, which have a strong affinity for oil," Diamond says. "This affinity is of course a major problem for aquatic birds that find themselves in the path of an oil spill. What we found is that if you put MOP in contact with an oil-laden feather, it will soak up the oil and leave the feather clean. It is more oleophilic [oil-loving] than a feather."
The oleophilic MOP can be applied during adverse weather conditions like rain or snow without fear of having the collected oil leach out of the MOP and back into the environment. "A separate extraction process is required to remove the oil from the MOP," says Diamond.
An extraction process involves separating the oil and MOP in a machine known as the MOP PET (Petroleum Extraction Tool), which essentially squeezes the oil out of the MOP. "We are able to recover a very large percentage of the oil during the extraction phase in the MOP PET," says Diamond. "The oil recovery is on the order of 95%, which is significantly higher than the recovery achieved from other sorbents." Polypropylene and conventional cellulose sorbents allow oil recovery on the order of 75 to 80%, while others like clay, peat moss, or vermiculite retain nearly all the oil collected.
"After processing oil-saturated MOP through the MOP PET, the reusable oil has been recovered," Diamond continues. "This leaves a cake-like residue that is then introduced into another machine referred to as the MOP
Other oil recovery tools are available that utilize MOP technology for specialized applications, such as the MOP
According to Diamond, the MOP family of tools has been designed to ensure complete recovery of virtually all spilled oil, leaving no trace of oil or MOP in the environment. "Everything is recovered: clean water, clean oil, and with all MOP separated and retrieved. The extracted oil, together with the remaining MOP fuel pellets, represents 100% recovery of the available oil."
The recovered oil is reportedly as clean as it was in its pre-spill state, if not cleaner, Diamond continues. "The MOP will filter out some of the contaminants that the oil may have picked up on the ground. If it is a crude oil, it will be reclaimed in a condition that is essentially the same as if it was coming out of a tanker. The same level of cleanliness is achieved for refined oils as well." The recovered oil can be reintroduced to the processing stream for sale or further refining, and the remaining MOP can be burned for fuel, leaving only 1% ash behind.
The level of cleaning efficiency and reuse of the spent MOP for fuel result in a significant reduction in remediation costs, according to Diamond. "There are savings both in the low cost of the product itself, and in the operation. Because MOP has a much higher pickup ratio than alternatives like clay, MOP uses one-tenth as much space for storage and is much easier to handle. Imagine one worker carrying two 20-lbm bags of MOP versus two workers unloading a ½-ton pickup truck loaded with 25 to 40 bags of clay for the same oil spill."
MOP is also lightweight and has a unit cost that is less than one-third the cost of clay. "Arguably the most important feature of MOP is the option of 95% oil recovery for as little as USD 0.25 per gallon and subsequent elimination of hazmat disposal cost. What was formerly a cost can now become a significant profit center," Diamond continues.
MOP Environmental Solutions has several expansion plans in the works for MOP this year. The company plans to begin oil recovery and reclamation operations in the Caspian Sea region, and hopes to attract more domestic attention through a series of high-speed, full-scale deployment and recovery demonstrations in its
Diamond is optimistic that the MOP technology's holistic approach to oil remediation will be a positive draw for any operator facing the potential for oil spills in any process. "This technology could be seen as taking a very negative environmental event, an oil spill, and turning it into a positive.
In the first place, you're intercepting a material [the cellulose-based starting material from a fiber-manufacturing process] that normally would not have a recycling path," he continues. "You give it a recycling path by converting it to MOP, and then apply it in the field to solve an environmental problem without creating any additional waste streams and minimal by-products. Essentially, you're taking a problem material and using it to solve a bigger problem."
For more information about MOP and other remediation technologies, visit www.mopenvironmental.com.
Ted Moon is the Technology Editor of JPT Online. He brings information on emerging technologies, R&D successes, new field applications, updates from SPE papers about recent innovations, and more. If you have a question or suggestion for future article topics, email Ted at teched@spe.org.