The Kneeslider

Doers Builders and Positive People

Osorb the Oil Absorber

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One of the constants when dealing with motor vehicles of any kind is oil and all sorts of other chemicals that can get into our water. I came across this demonstration of Osorb, a silicon and benzene polymer that sucks it all up and I was absolutely amazed. This isn’t some clay like substance you throw down on your garage floor or any of those absorber mats we might use, in fact, this is aimed more at the kind of oil and chemical spills we see contaminating ground water. The demo video below shows how fast Osorb acts and how completely it takes the chemicals from the water, enough so that the fellow who invented it, chemical engineer Paul Edmiston, from the College of Wooster, then drinks it. I guess he’s pretty sure it works.

When Osorb comes into contact with oil or other water-hating (nonpolar) chemicals, such as oils, fats and other hydrocarbons, its stacks of benzene-silicon plates expand like an accordion to absorb the contaminants. Each gram of material can hold up to eight times its own weight. Because electrically charged liquids, like water, don’t interact with Osorb, the contaminated material can easily be filtered out of it, making Osorb an ideal candidate for cleaning up all kinds of water pollution.

Check out the demo video below:

Link: Popular Mechanics via Instapundit

Comments

  1. Kitty litter works for me…

    I wonder if this stuff would serve as cat litter? Old Bubba, my 25 pound Brit, might like this stuff.

  2. Cool. Love the idea but now how do you get this into practical use? Products like this are already in use in here in CA to make sure oils are trapped as they enter the storm drains so it won’t end up in ocean. But it works only on light rains. Could they have used this on major oil spills? How would it work along river banks where farmers’ fertilizers can seep into the water?

    Does anyone have a link to read more on this?

  3. I’ve used Rice Hull Fly Ash since 1980 on floors, when another mechanic showed me some. I bought it in 50 lb bags and it was quite inexpensive, and that bag lasted me a year in my always clean, 2 bay auto (and my and friends bikes on weekends) repair shop.
    It sucks up fresh oil/gas/trans/brake fluid and other liquids very well, and will remove many old oil stains from concrete if the area is \primed\ with some fresh oil and then the fly ash is applied and let stand for 24 hours, and then brushed away and the stain will be gone or mostly so. Great stuff that would otherwise be considered waste.