article thumbnail

Oleophobic hydrophobic magnetic sponge selectively soaks up oil, sparing water and wildlife

Green Car Congress

A Northwestern Engineering-led team has developed a highly porous smart sponge that selectively soaks up oil in water. With an ability to absorb more than 30 times its weight in oil, the sponge could be used to clean up oil spills inexpensively and efficiently without harming marine life. —Vikas Nandwana.

Water 243
article thumbnail

UH researchers developing autonomous robot for subsea oil and gas pipeline inspection

Green Car Congress

To reduce the number of accidents in the global oil and gas industry caused by damaged pipelines, University of Houston researchers are developing an autonomous robot to identify potential pipeline leaks and structural failures during subsea inspections. When larger spills happen, pipelines are often the culprit.

Oil 221
article thumbnail

Researchers find abundance of oil-eating bacteria in northeast Atlantic

Green Car Congress

A team of scientists from Heriot-Watt University has found the waters in the Faroe-Shetland Channel (FSC) are teeming with oil-eating bacteria. The FSC is a deepwater sub-Arctic region where the oil and gas industry has been active for the last 40?years. They also have other locations in mind for similar observatories.

Oil 225
article thumbnail

Researchers develop large-scale, economical method to extract hydrogen from oil sands and oil fields

Green Car Congress

Canadian researchers have developed a large-scale economical method to extract hydrogen from oil sands (natural bitumen) and oil fields. The process can extract hydrogen from existing oil sands reservoirs, with huge existing supplies found in Canada and Venezuela. Proton Technologies is commercializing the process.

Oil-Sands 375
article thumbnail

Polymer-based membranes offer alternative to thermal processes for separating hydrocarbon and crude oil mixtures

Green Car Congress

Their stability and selectivity can be tuned by thermal crosslinking to separate simple hydrocarbon mixtures and complex crude oil fractions. These membranes preferentially separate paraffin over aromatic components, making them suitable for integration in hybrid distillation systems for crude oil fractionation. —Chisca et al.

Polymer 186
article thumbnail

T&E: tests show cars powered by electrofuels emit high levels of criteria pollutants

Green Car Congress

Proponents claim that if renewable electricity is used and CO 2 is captured from the air, then the e-gasoline and e-diesel are climate-neutral fuels that will also reduce pollution. The ethanol and e-fuel would separate out similarly to oil and water. However, said T&E, particle pollution was far from eliminated.

Pollution 186
article thumbnail

Eni and RenOils to boost collection of used cooking oil for biofuel production

Green Car Congress

Eni and RenOils, the Italian national vegetable and animal oils and fats Consortium established in 2016 to ensure the correct management of the collection, transport, storage, processing and reuse of vegetable oils and animal fats, are promoting the recovery of used cooking oils (UCO) for biofuel production.

Oil 247