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Oil spills

By: Nick Rivera

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Big question

• What will be the best sorbent to absorb oil???

I am doing this research to find a better way

to clean up oil spills.

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Hypothesis • I think that the polymer will be the best

sorbent to absorb the oil. I think this because

polymer is a sorbent that absorbs things really

well.

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hypothesis

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Fun Facts!!!• #1…oil spills happen all the time!

• #2…it can take months to clean up…because

they have to clean the ocean as well as the

animals involved.• #3…if an oil rig blows up many gallons of oil will

flow into the ocean.• #4…when an animal is involved in an oil spill like

a bird that bird won’t be able to go any where

that is because the oil is to heavy on it’s wings. 4

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More fun facts!!!!!

• #5…all the oil from an oil spill might sink to the

bottom before the clean up crew can get to it

so that causes clean up to last even longer

because they have to clean it up from the

bottom of the ocean.

• #6…most clean up crews are volunteers but

some are trained people

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materials• Large plastic garbage bag• Liquid measuring cup,4-cup size• Four sorbents(3 cups of each)• Newspaper-easy cleanup• Polymer• Cotton balls• oat meal• Shop Towels• Gloves• Eye protection

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materials• Scissors, if sorbent needs to be cut into smaller pieces• Paper or glass bowls, 12-oz size (you need 3 bowls for each

sorbent )• Vegetable oil(1 gallon)• Water(1 gallon)• Dry measuring cup, 1-cup size• Single-serving mesh micro-screen coffee filters, should fit

easily inside liquid measuring cup• Stopwatch• Liquid soap• Lab notebook or laptop• Graph paper

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procedures

• #1.Spread newspaper onto your work surface• #2.Open your garbage bag and put it close to

the measuring cup.• #3.Prepare and test your sorbents one at a

time so you can keep your work space uncluttered. Large sorbents must be cut into small, thumbnail-sized pieces so that they can fill a measuring cup. wear eye protection and gloves.

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procedures

• #4.After you've prepared your first sorbent and placed each sorbent in a glass or paper bowl.

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procedures

#3 place each pile in a glass or paper bowl. • #5.Make a data table in your lab

notebook for each sorbent, as shown below for Sorbent 1, to record the results.

• Polymer• Total Water and Oil Level

(A)

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procedures

• Remaining Water Level After Removing Sorbent(B)

• Remaining Oil Level After Removing Sorbent(A-B)

• Ratio = (Remaining Water) / (Remaining Oil)• Polymer bowl #1

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procedures

• Polymer bowl #2 • Polymer bowl #3• #6.Pour 3 cups of water into the liquid

measuring cup.

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procedures

• #7.Slowly add 1 cup of oil. Do the oil and water separate or mix? Note: In some trials, a layer of bubbles may form between the water and oil layers. If this happens, then you must dump out the water and oil mixture and start with fresh ingredients since it will be too difficult to measure where one layer begins and the other ends. Alternatively, you can wait until the bubble layer disappears.

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procedures

• #8.Put 1 cup of your first sorbent into the micro-screen filter. Lower it slowly into the water-oil mixture and gently move it from side to side for a few seconds until the sorbent is completely submerged.

• #9.Start the stopwatch. • #10.After 30 seconds, lift the filter with the contents

of the sorbent inside and hold it just above the surface of the water-oil mixture for 30 more seconds to drain.

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procedures• #11.Dump the contents of the mesh strainer into the plastic garbage bag. • #12.Get down level with the liquid measuring cup and read and record the

total water and oil level.• #13.Measure and record the remaining water level. • #14.Wash out the micro-screen filter with soap and water. • #15.Add water and oil until your measuring cup once again shows 3 cups

of water and 1 cup of oil. Note: It is not necessary to start with fresh water and oil each time (steps 6 and 7) unless a layer of bubbles has formed between the water and oil layers.

• #16.Repeat steps 8–15 for the remaining piles of your first sorbent. • #17.Then proceed with steps 4–15 for the rest of the sorbents you chose.

Again, it is not necessary to perform steps 6 and 7 again, unless a layer of bubbles has formed between the water and oil layers.

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procedures

• #18.Now calculate the remaining oil after removing the sorbent (A - B) for each trial and record it in your data table.

• #19.Calculate the ratio of remaining water to remaining oil for each of the trials and record it in your data table.

• #20.Average the ratios for each sorbent and record them in a new data table, as shown in the table below:

• Sorbent Name• Average Ratio of Water to Oil• No Sorbent• 3• Polymer• Cotton• Straw • Shop Towels

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variables

• #1…oil• #2…polymer• #3…oat meal• #4…cotton balls• #5…shop towels

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observations

Before any sorbent had been added.

After oat meal had been added and removed.

After cotton balls had been added and removed.

After shop towels had been added and removed.

After polymer had been added and removed.

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data

SorbentTotal Water and Oil

Level (A)

Remaining Water Level After Removing

Sorbent (B)

Remaining Oil Level After Removing

Sorbent

Ratio = (Remaining Water) /

(Remaining Oil)

Oatmeal 4 3 0.5 6.0000

Cotton 4 3 0.3 10.0000

Shop Towels 4 2.75 0.75 3.6667

Polymer 4 2.75 0.5 5.5000

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Analysis of data

• A…they experiment did test my hypotheses.• B…I know that because not only does polymer

absorb things very well and in most oil spills polymer helps a lot!!!

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conclusion

• A… my hypothesis was not correct.• B…I would change the amount of oil, water,

the type of oil, and the type of water.• C…my new question is what is polymer made

of???? How does the polymer work???

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References • http://www.amsa.gov.au/Marine_Environment_Protection/Educational_r

esources_and_information/Teachers/Classroom_Projects/Clean_up_oil_spill_exercise.asp

• http://www.juliantrubin.com/encyclopedia/environment/oilspill.html • http://www.sciencebuddies.org/science-fair-projects/project_ideas/EnvEn

g_p025.shtml