Disclosed herein is an apparatus (10) for remediation of a site contaminated by an oil spill. The apparatus (10) comprises a porous capsule (12) encapsulating material (14) for sorbing oil. The material (14) comprises granules of an at least semi-open cell polymeric foam, the granules being less than 10cm3 in size. Ingredients from which the polymeric foam is formed comprise acrylonitrile butadiene rubber as a major constituent thereof by weight.

A solar boat for easy collection of spilled oil and garbage of the present disclosure includes a cabin unit, a boat body consisting of a pair of ship bottoms having a structure that is symmetrical left and right and spaced apart below the cabin unit, a solar panel unit provided above the cabin unit and configured to convert solar energy into electrical energy, a collection and transfer unit provided between the pair of ship bottoms, driven by the electric energy supplied from the solar panel unit, and configured to collect spilled oil and garbage into the inside of the boat body, a garbage storage unit, and a spilled oil storage unit, wherein the collection and transfer unit comprises a rotating conveyor belt, and an oil adsorption member and a collection member that are attached to and detached from the conveyor belt, and the solar boat for easy collection of spilled oil and garbage of the present disclosure has an effect of having excellent work efficiency by simultaneously including an oil adsorption member and a collection member that are attached to and detached from a conveyor belt and simultaneously proceeding with collection of spilled oil and collection of garbage on the water, and an effect of being able to separate the spilled oil from the oil adsorption member, the collection member, and the garbage and easily move the spilled oil to the spilled oil storage unit by including a steam spray nozzle configured to spray hot steam at the end of the conveyor belt.

A molded body includes a shape memory material. The molded body has a three-dimensional surface structure which, in a permanent shape, at least in part has a superhydrophobic surface and/or a hydrophobic surface, on which water droplet contact angles of 120° to 150° are found.

An igniter device (10) operable to remediate a floating oil spill in a body of water is provided. The device (10) comprises a pyrotechnic device (28) that is actuated through an actuator assembly (20) comprising time delay circuitry (24). Upon actuation, the time delay circuitry (24) begins a countdown permitting the device (10) to be safely deployed from an aerial vehicle. The pyrotechnic device (28) ignites a fuel source (38), which in turn ignites the floating oil spill.

An apparatus for removing oil or other pollutants from the surface of water, comprising a platform having a left side wall, a right side wall, a rear wall, a front opening, a floor, and a bottom, one or more ballasts which adjust the platform floor relative to a level of oil on the water surface, wherein the oil flows from the front opening across the floor to the rear wall, a rear location near the rear wall to collect the oil from the platform floor; and a pump connected to the rear location that removes the oil from the rear location to a storage area which does not affect the ballast of the platform. The skimmer vessel can work stationary in the water, and does not require a propeller means, as the oil will continue to flow into the skimmer as the oil is pumped out of the rear by the gravity flow to the rear of the vessel.

Oil-absorbent skimmers of the present invention include an upper oil-absorbent flotation head that floats on water and several absorbent strands attached to the underside of the flotation head. The flotation head has a liquid-permeable cover with absorbent strips inside. The absorbent strips and strands are made of oil-absorbing materials that resist absorption of water. The passive oil-absorbent skimmers may be free-floating and may be used in stormwater catch basins, water holding tanks, vaults, sumps, bilges and the like for capturing hydrocarbons such as oil and oil-based liquids.

A hydrocarbon removal apparatus includes a plurality of fibers and a backing substrate. Each of the plurality of fibers includes a proximal end and a distal end. Each proximal end is secured to the backing substrate.

The present disclosure relates to systems and methods for recovering mature fine tailings (MFT) from oil sands tailings ponds. Some examples include a hollow, fully enclosed around its perimeter, ideally of cylindrical form, open bottom structure (a hollow conduit), of predetermined geometry, which is placed at the pond surface. The hollow conduit can penetrate MFT deposits to or below a level at which MFT of required density is located. A width or diameter of the hollow conduit can be determined with respect to the MFT inflow velocity and the corresponding shear rate, so as to enable MFT flow into the hollow conduit at a rate matching a rate at which the MFT is removed from the pond (e.g., a recovery rate). An MFT fill level inside the hollow conduit can be kept constant and equal to a required fill level throughout MFT recovery operations. MFT can enter the hollow conduit during MFT recovery operations solely under action of hydraulic head pressure. MFT can be transferred from within the hollow conduit utilizing a mechanical device such as a pump or a siphon, for transfer to shore based facilities and further processing.

Means for easily mounting fabric on stakes or posts and installing a fence that separates oil from water on land, on shorelines, or bodies of water are provided, as are methods of fabricating and methods of deploying such a mounting fabric. A fabric can be securely and easily mounted to stakes or posts to fabricate a fence that separates oil from water. The fabric can be a strong, lightweight fabric for separating spilled oil from water.

Methods for making a plurality of nanoparticles are provided. The method may include flowing a first component of the core into a reaction chamber; flowing a polymeric material into the reaction chamber; and flowing a second component of the core into the reaction chamber such that the first component reacts with the second component to form a core. The polymeric material forms a polymeric shell around the core.