Los Angeles (Global Adventures): Machines that suck up polluted water, centrifuge the mess, keep the pollutants, and release clean water back into the ocean are not borrowed from a science fiction flick, they are reality and come from a company called "Ocean Therapy Solutions." Thanks to Kevin Costner, 6 units will be deployed in a first test to help with the Deep-Water Horizon cleanup in the Gulf of Mexico.
While the machines cannot close the leak on the ocean floor, they can help to clean up the polluted water. Like a giant vacuum cleaner, polluted water is sucked into the units. After centrifuging the mix, clean water and oily suds remain. The largest machines can clean up to 200 gallons per minute, some reports say. This would enable a single centrifuge to extract up to 2,000 barrels of oil per day.
After watching a demonstration, BP agreed to use 6 units in a first test phase and try to clean up the mess in Gulf. Costner says that Ocean Therapy Solutions has a total of 300 centrifuges of various sizes. The 55 year old actor came up with the idea after the 1989 Exxon Valdez accident. He provided $26 million to fund research and development since, several reports say.
26 units are ready to be deployed, Costner's business partner and legal counsel John Houghtaling says. The machines could be a valuable tool if they meet regulations with regard to discharge, BP said. However, hopes for a quick relief may remain science fiction. BP now says that it could take until August to finally plug the leak. Roughly 6 million gallons of oil have already escaped into the Gulf of Mexico. They are now starting to show up on the fragile Louisiana coast line, threatening swamps, birds, and mammals.
BP says that it will commit $ 500 million over the next 10 years to study the effects the oil spill has on the environment. So far, about 65 miles of coastline in Louisiana have been affected, according to Governor Bobby Jindal.
A video on YouTube shows actor Kevin Costner introducing the “vacuum cleaners” to the media and a life demonstration of the machines.
www.global-adventures.us/2010/05/24/oil-spill-cleanup-solution/