Sponge speeds up removal of oil from wastewater

Drilling for oil under the seabed is said to produce 100 billion barrels of oil-contaminated wastewater every year by releasing tiny oil droplets into surrounding water.

To mitigate against this, researchers at the University of Toronto (U of T) and Imperial College London have developed a sponge that is claimed to remove over 90 per cent of oil microdroplets from wastewater within ten minutes.

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After capturing oil from wastewater, the sponge can be treated with a solvent, which releases the oil from the sponge. The oil can be recycled, and the sponge can be used again.

Imperial’s Dr Pavani Cherukupally developed an early version of the sponge during her PhD at the U of T. The sponge is claimed to have removed over 95 per cent of the oil in the samples tested, but it took three hours to do so. Acidity and alkalinity also presented an issue, as the pH of contaminated wastewater dictated how well the sponge worked.