UGI proposes Mexican Gulf clean-up plan

With help from the Commercial Fishermen of America and US volunteer groups, Brighton-based Ultra Green International (UGI) is deploying a fleet of 168 fishing boats towing technology platforms specifically designed to remove the oil threatening the beaches of the Gulf of Mexico and the waters around the Deepwater Horizon well, and transfer it to specially chartered tankers.

At the heart of the clean-up effort is an innovative membrane that is both oleophilic and hydrophilic, meaning it soaks up oil and water. The membrane, which was developed by UGI’s science partner Algaeventure Systems (AVS) in the US, acts like blotting paper in attracting oil that can then be released only by mechanical pressure.

The team has designed a 21m roller system to be mounted on towed platforms that will draw oil out of the water using belts of membrane at the rate of at least 25,000 gallons a day per boat.

It will then be pressed out of the membrane and siphoned into marine bladders that can be towed away to waiting tankers. Significant marine and oil-spill safety features have been built into the system, which is designed to recover the oil from the surface of the Mexican Gulf down to 1.5m − the depth that encompasses the most damaging oil. The aim is to prevent the oil from reaching the coast and transfer it from the platforms to floating bladders before loading it on to conventional oil tankers.