Patent CA-2314066-A1 (CA)
Inventor: NELSON WILLIAM ERNEST
IPC: B01D17/02
Filed: 2000-07-17
Abstract: Water is the most precious and abundant liquid on the face of the earth. All life foams are dependent on water for their existence. It quenches thirst, nurtures growth, hosts multitudes of life forms essential to the delicate food chains through which we exist, and when harnessed provides the energy essential to modern civilization. Oil, although not as abundant, has become a vital commodity utilized and solicited by every country. It serves not only as an essential fuel but its derivatives are used as components of a myriad of other byproducts. Since oil is bountiful in only select locations the growing market has necessitated the formation of transportation alternatives to evolve. These consist of shipping routes, with loading and receiving ports serving the colossal tankers that ply the high seas as well as pipelines winding through long expanses of pristine wilderness. Both liquids are beneficial to life and the standard of living on Earth, yet when accidents occur spilling oil at sea the results are catastrophic. The oil spills engulf everything in their wake, leaving a trail of destruction and devastation that can take centuries to recover. The cost cannot be estimated in billions of dollars; the extent of damage to marine life is immeasurable and unfathomable for decades following the spill and in many instances is irreparable. As the demand for oil continues to surge, the amount of oil in transit grows and presents a constantly burgeoning and inevitable threat that human error or natural and unforeseeable consequences will cause more spills or leakages at sea or along harbours or coastal shores.  The degree of entropy of Earth, or the measure of disorder, is steadily increasing and it is the objective, and indeed the responsibility, of technology to control it. For many years spills of crude and bunker oils and diesel fuel resulting from the collision of ships into one another or into reefs or shorelines, or pipeline fractures have been left unattended or uncontrolled. As the immense environmental threats have become recognized both the environmentalists and the shipping industry have realized the enormity of the clean up responsibilities. It has been demonstrated though, that all known procedures and solutions have proven costly, ineffective and dangerous to native marine life and their habitat. Presently environmentalists are combating more oil spills around the globe than at any other period in history, yet little has been achieved in devising methods to prevent or rectify the damage incurred by oil spills. Current technology cannot control an oil spill's devastation.  Once inner tidal zones, cliff faces, swamps, estuaries, beaches or pools have been coated in oil the prospect of successful restoration using the present methods are extremely poor. Superficially depicting this invention in a simplified and elementary manner can be achieved by describing the 3 fundamental principles it utilizes. ~ Oils and fuels do not dilute with water and rise.to the water surface. ~ Molten wax does not dilute with water and rises to the water surface. ~ As the wax cools it hardens, trapping the oils and fuels, creating a solid that can be removed from the water surface, leaving the water clear of these pollutants. The embodiments of this invention have been proven to be cost efficient, effective, expedient, reliable and capable of controlling the devastation of a spill. Furthermore its application poses no threats to marine life or its habitat and the pollutants can be easily recovered refined and recycled. Therefore, for these reasons and vantages this invention should be implemented.