PRESENT-DAY PATENT- A PREVIEW

Accident spilling of oil on water bodies, while extracting it from oil refineries or during their transportation, storage or utilization, is posing a major threat to the life on earth. This natural fuel used for electric generation, vehicle fueling and many other purposes, are highly toxic that they harm and question the survival of various flora and fauna living on them. Not only that, serious health impairments occur in humans feeding on the toxified sea foods. There are several methods to collect the oil and to clean or rehabilitate the oil-prone water surfaces and few of them include: (i) Deploying floating barriers (called booms) and waterborne vessels (called skimmers); (ii) Applying chemical dispersants or biological agents; (iii) In situ burning of spilt oil and (v) Using large oil-absorbing sponges, called sorbents. However, these methods might not be easily applicable at all circumstances and they are expensive that they sometimes provide additional toxicity or change the water properties. So, a recent invention has dealt with an oil-collecting system that encompasses a spiral- shaped coil being bounded to a truss structure. The truss structure is actually rotated by a belt and pulley system, making the coil to move over oil-spilled water surfaces and collect the oil in a container enclosed along the truss structure itself. Actually, an air knife mounted on the housing discharges pressurized air to split the oil being collected in the spiral coil and to make it fall inside the oil-collecting container. Though this invention is eco-friendly for usage, future inventions that can intelligently predict and clean-up water bodies with large oil spillage in less time and cost are mandated.  Image courtesy: www.vecteezy.com