Discovery News > Tech and Gadgets News > NASA-Inspired Aerogel Could Sponge Up Oil Spills

NASA-Inspired Aerogel Could Sponge Up Oil Spills

It was originally designed to capture comet dust, but it could be used to clean up the environment.

By Eric Bland
Tue May 4, 2010 09:21 AM ET
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NASA-derived aerogels could clean up future oil spills.
The ordinarily hard material can be engineered to soak up and release oil, like a sponge.
Aerogel is the least dense material on Earth and was originally developed to capture comet dust.

Aerogel, also called "frozen smoke," is being engineered to act as an oil spill sponge. CLICK ON THE PHOTO to see more of the amazing applications of this revolutionary material.
NASA

NASA-created aerogel, once used to capture comet dust, could soon solve more down-to-Earth problems.

Scientists from Ohio and Arizona are creating aerogels that can absorb oil from spills or stop pollutants from ever reaching the environment.

WIDE ANGLE: Get all the latest news and information about the massive oil spill threatening wetlands and wildlife on the Gulf Coast.

"It would be put on top of the water, where it will float on the surface and absorb oil and then, just like a kitchen sponge, you could squeeze the oil out," said Matt Gawryla, a scientist at Ohio-based AeroClay Inc.

AeroClay is working to commercialize the aerogel technology originally developed at Case Western Reserve University.

WATCH VIDEO: The next victims of the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico could be the birds that depend on the region's fertile shorelines, bayous and marshes.

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Aerogel was originally developed decades ago for NASA space missions. It's the least dense, most insulating material on Earth. It's derived from a gel in which the liquid component is replaced with a gas. Even a thin coating of aerogel can dramatically improve a building's energy efficiency or stop a blowtorch from igniting a match.

Over the last several years, new manufacturing methods have pushed the price of aerogels down to more earthly levels. Aerogels are now cheap enough to insulate some homes and businesses and be used in high-end sporting equipment, such as tennis racquets.

Superior insulation isn't aerogel's only quality. Aerogel can also be made to attract and hold oil and water. Two groups of scientists are trying to commercialize aerogel's water- and oil-absorbing properties.

AeroClay is in the beginning stages of testing a prototype aerogel sponge, among other aerogel products. An aerogel sponge can soak up water and oil; which one it soaks up depends on the aerogel's chemistry.

By modifying the different polymers that keep aerogel from collapsing in on itself, scientists can program which liquids or particles the material picks up.

An aerogel sponge could clean up oil covering rocks and birds like a kitchen sponge, but AeroClay's executives primarily have another use in mind; stopping oil from reaching the shore in the first place.

Large sheets of aerogel could be placed at the source of the oil leak and absorb more oil faster. Once the sponge is filled with oil, the pad would be removed, the oil squeezed out and stored for future use, and the sponge could be put back in the water to absorb more oil.

AeroClay's technology isn't mature enough to clean up the oil slick threatening the Gulf coast, said Lauren Wolf, AeroClay's CEO. Within several years the company hopes its aerogel technology could help clean up oil slicks, but the company has no plans to deploy aerogel prototypes for the current clean up.

Another group of scientists is developing aerogels to stop pollutants from leaching into nature in the first place. Robert Pfeffer, a scientist from Arizona State University, is looking to use aerogels in industry to remove harmful particles and chemicals. Breaking a solid piece of aerogel into tiny particles increases the aergol's surface area, allowing it to absorb more chemicals than a flat sheet.

At metal plating facilities, coal-fueled power plants and other factories, waste air and water need to be filtered to remove any contaminants. Waste air or water would be pumped into a container filled with loose aerogel particles. The force of the air would suspend the particles in mid air, exposing every surface of them to absorb harmful particles. The aerogel particles, saturated with contaminants, would then be collected and stored in a safe facility.

"Removing chemicals and oils from water and from the air is a major problem," said Pfeffer. "Aerogels are an excellent material to act as a sorbent for these materials."