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Ferromagnetic Nanoparticles for Oil Spills
Jillian Yao '26
Oil Spills and Catastrophic Ecological Damage
According to the US Department of Energy, 1.3 million gallons (4.9 million liters) of petroleum are spilled into U.S. waters per year.[1] A major oil spill can lead to double that amount. Furthermore, it is estimated that more than 700 million gallons of waste oil enter worldwide oceans each year, with over half coming from land drainage and improper waste disposal of used motor oil.[2]
Crude oil is a fossil fuel that is used to make a range of fuels and products that allow us to heat our homes, operate our cars, produce electricity and power the economy. However, when oil from rigs, pipelines and tankers is accidently spilled in oceans and seas, the ecological damage is devastating and cleanup costs in terms of time, resources and money become a huge burden for government, industry and environmentalists.
Oil spills have drastic effects on marine life. In 2010, an explosion at the BP Deepwater Horizon oil rig led to the largest marine oil spill in history. Only 25% of the oil was recovered, leaving 154 million gallons of oil at sea.[3] Two million gallons of dispersant were spread to contain the spill causing more toxicity to ocean life. Over 82,000 birds, 6,165 sea turtles, 25,000 marine mammals and a vast number of fish were affected.[3] For example, oiling can coat a bird’s wings making it unable to fly or strip away an otter’s fur, leaving it susceptible to hypothermia. Dolphins and whales inhaling and ingesting oil can affect heart, lungs, immune function and reproduction, which leads to death.[4,5] Oil can make fish and shellfish unsafe for humans to eat.[5] Unfortunately, rescue teams cannot recover and rehabilitate all wildlife impacted as a result of an oil spill. BP spent $15 billion in cleanup costs and another $20 billion in economic damages.[6]
Fortunately, oil density is less than water and, therefore, it floats on the water surface when it leaks or spills. As such, there are multiple historical methods to clean up surface oil spills (Table I) but, unfortunately, these cleanup methods have varying scales and ranges of efficiency and can never remove 100% of spilled oil from the environment.[7] For example, while booms and skimmers are effective in calm seas, they are very inefficient in rough waters like the ocean. Dispersants and burning have environmental consequences for marine life and the atmosphere. Furthermore, scientists need to be very careful that these cleanup methods do not cause additional harm to the environment and ecological health.
Table I. Historical Methods for Oil Spill Cleanup[7]
Nanotechnology and Magnetism to Clean Oil Spills
A novel methodology to clean oil spills more efficiently while limiting further ecological damage is on the horizon. This technique employs nanotechnology and magnets to magnetically separate oil from water.[8-10] Nanoparticles are tiny particles that range in size between 1 to 100 nanometers.[11] Nanoparticles are about 80,000 to 100,000 times smaller than the width of a human hair.[12] Water-repellant nanoparticles that contain iron-ferromagnetic nanoparticles- can be created to exhibit magnetic properties.[13] These 10 nM ferromagnetic nanoparticles have the ability to stay suspended in fluids creating a ferromagnetic fluid or ferrofluid.[14] Ferrofluids are comprised of ferromagnetic particles, a carrier fluid (usually mineral oil, synthetic oil or water) and a soap-like surfactant to keep the nanoparticles from sticking or clumping together. Ferrofluids behave as normal liquids but in the presence of a strong magnet, the ferrofluid is pulled to the magnet, stiffens and behaves like a solid often creating spike-like structures.[15]
Oil spill cleanup using ferrofluid nanotechnology was demonstrated to work by making the spilled oil magnetic. The ferrofluid spreads and mixes well with the spilled oil. Capillary action will soak up the oil into the pores or cavities of the ferromagnetic particles which magnetizes the oil. Strong magnets are used to separate the magnetized oil from clean water which is sent back to sea. If a method can be devised to then separate the ferromagnetic particles from oil, the clean oil can then be recycled for use in fuels and products.[13]
How it Works
(Flow chart generated by student but idea derived from http://science buddies.org16 )
References
1. Andrea Thompson. FAQ: The Science and History of Oil Spills, Lifescience, April 2020.
https://www.livescience.com/9885-faq-science-history-oil-spills.html
2. Oils Spills: Impact on the Ocean. Water Encyclopedia.
3. A Deadly Toll: The Devastating Wildlife Effects of Deepwater Horizon – and the Next Catastrophic Oil
Spill. Center of Biological Diversity.
4. Ocean Spills. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. U.S. Department of Commerce.
https://www.noaa.gov/education/resource-collections/ocean-coasts/oil-spills
5. How does oil impact marine life? February 26,2021.
https://oceanservice.noaa.gov/fact/oilimpacts.html
6. BP paid a steep price for the Gulf oil spill but for the US a decade later, it’s business as usual. TheConversation. April 23, 2020. https://theconversation.com/bp-paid-a-steep-price-for-the-gulf-oil-spill-but-for-the-us-a-decade-later-its-business-as-usual-136905
7. Mayur Agarwal. 10 Methods for Oil Spill Cleanup at Sea. Marine Insight.
https://www.marineinsight.com/environment/10-methods-for-oil-spill-cleanup-at-sea/
8. Beth Buczynski. MIT Magnets Could Pull Offshore Oil Spills from Water. National Geographic,
September 20, 2012.
9. Larry Hardesty. How to clean up oil spills: MIT researchers devise a surprisingly simple but effective method for magnetically separating oil and water. MIT News, September 12, 2012.
https://news.mit.edu/2012/how-to-clean-up-oil-spills-0912
10. Using Magnets and Nanotechnology to Clean Up Oil Spills. November 14, 2019.
https://www.goudsmit.co.uk/using-magnets-and-nanotechnology-to-clean-up-oil-spills.
11. What Are Nanoparticles? Definition, Size, Uses and Properties.
https://www.twi-global.com/technical-knowledge/faqs/what-are-nanoparticles
12. Size of the Nanoscale. National Nanotechnology Initiative. https://www.nano.gov/nanotech-101/what/nano-size
13. Tom Levitt. Cleaning up oil spills with magnets and nanotechnology. September 21,2012.
http://cnn.com/2012/09/21/tech/oil-spill-magnets/index/html
14. Ferrofluids. Academic Kids Encyclopedia.
http://academickids.com/encyclopedia/index.php/Ferrofluid
15. Nano Knowledge: Imagine and Discover a World You Can’t See. Discovery Place Rockingham.
16. Can Nanotechnology Help Clean Up Ocean Spills? Science Buddies, November 20, 2020.
Contributors, HowStuffWorks.com. “Animals Covered in Oil: Gulf Oil Spill Pictures.” HowStuffWorks, HowStuffWorks, 6 July 2010, https://animals.howstuffworks.com/animal-facts/animals-covered-in-oil-pictures.htm.