New Material Turns Oil from Liquid to Solid

The Gulf oil spill is the biggest environmental news this year in USA. The responders said they still have to deal with the remainder of the estimated 5 million barrels of oil that were being released into the Gulf since the spill began in the late April. And now a material that is in development could help recover spilled oil by solidifying in a solid gel floating on the ocean’s surface. Then the oil in a solid state can be scooped away like fat on top of the soup. In another way the solid oil can be melted and reuses again, also helps reduce the cost of natural resources.

This article is related to biology because the Gulf spill has destroyed the beautiful environment for the marine animals, and it also took away their life. And now with this new material, that can solidify the oil into solid can reduce the damage to the environment if there will be something like the Gulf spill have again.

We should care about this information because the new material can make the oil to be reused, and also help reduce the cost of buying oil and save more of these limited natural resources. The new material can make the oil solidify like gel, and then we can melt the gel and release the oil, and the oil can be distilled away and used.

http://news.discovery.com/tech/oil-spill-liquid-solid.html