Janesville company offers solution for BP oil spill
JANESVILLE — A Janesville company’s solution for cleaning up oil in the Gulf of Mexico might be falling on deaf ears at BP, but it’s attracting a lot of eyes on the Internet.
“This is basically all I’ve been talking about for the two days since the video was posted,” said Dan Sinykin, president of Monterey Mills, the largest manufacturer of knit pile fabric in the United States.
Sinykin was referring to a short company video that demonstrates how one of the company’s wool fabrics absorbs oil. The company posted the video on YouTube on Monday, and it’s become a popular link on plenty of Facebook and other environmental websites.
In it, oil is dumped into a small wading pool. A scale shows the weight of the pool before and after the oil is added. Two workers then place a piece of the fabric in the pool, twirl it around and remove it.
Most all of the oil is removed from the water. About all that remains is a mark around the edge of the pool and a spot on the bottom where the oil contacted the plastic pool.
Sinykin said a lineal yard of the wool fabric can absorb roughly 30 pounds of oil. Monterey Mills, he said, can produce enough of the fabric to save more than 20 miles of beachfront a day.
“We couldn’t believe how well this product absorbed the oil,” he said. “It picked up four to five times its weight in oil and water.
“We can prove that our product is head-and-shoulders above all of the other options being featured on the news and Internet, including peat moss, hay, human and pet hair and a specialty-fabric out of Europe.”
On its website, BP encourages people to submit ideas on how best to clean up the spill. Sinykin did just that about five weeks ago but hasn’t heard back.
“I figured that I’d give them a month before we did the video,” he said. “I’m sure they are wading through lots and lots of ideas, and the majority of those are probably pretty crackpot.”
But Sinykin is convinced his company’s idea can work. He’s aware that Monterey’s tests were rudimentary and didn’t include variables such as water composition and temperature.
“We knit a very precise product,” he said. “It’s very consistent, very dense.
“It will work above or below water level, and it’s 100 percent biodegradable. It could be buried and, when the wool decays, the oil could be reclaimed or incinerated.”
Sinykin doesn’t see his overtures to BP as a get-rich scheme for Monterey.
“Our entire reason for doing this is out of concern for people in that area and their livelihoods in the Gulf region,” he said. “Unfortunately, I’m not in a position to just donate a million yards of this material to BP and say, ‘Here you go guys, good luck.’
“We feel awful for the people and wildlife suffering in the Gulf Coast and are confident that our fabric is the means to prevent BP oil from reaching and despoiling shorelines across the Gulf.”
Jun 27, 2010 at 11:33 p.m.
Suggest removal
Guess not.
Jun 26, 2010 at 6:39 a.m.
Suggest removal
Can anyone explain to me why they didn't just pinch off that tube the same way you would pinch a water hose?
Jun 25, 2010 at 2:33 p.m.
Suggest removal
I have seen other things like hay used to soak up the oil too. Although these are good ideas on soaking up the oil, the problem lies with removal of the tons of soaking wet from oil fabrics, hay, or whatever, and now disposing of them. Good idea to soak it up, but now we have more stuff in the water to clean up. Unless I'm missing something.
Jun 25, 2010 at 1:17 p.m.
Suggest removal
No need to order 2 million yards of foam. Straw works very well, and is readily available at a modest cost. Straw has been used in other major oil clean ups around the world.
Jun 25, 2010 at 12:14 p.m.
Suggest removal
Think of all the job that could be generated in this area if they decided to use this method
Jun 25, 2010 at 11:43 a.m.
Suggest removal
The video seems to show them using drain oil from motor vehicles. This is a highly refined and specific product. The Gulf spill is crude oil which has properties very different from motor oil.
Jun 25, 2010 at 11:13 a.m.
Suggest removal
DickTracy you are right this pipe could have been capped a long time ago but greed is why it has not. BP only cares about making money from oil. All the ideas so far they have used is to keep collecting oil not to save the environment. They ignore efforts and ideas from others to stop the leak since no ideas have made it so they keep extracting oil with minimal to no leakage. Greed is all they care about not the price of lives and environment.So file this idea under never going to be used.
Jun 25, 2010 at 10:51 a.m.
Suggest removal
Looks like we have a workable idea here. Sheep fur (wool) sheds water and adsorbs oil. Have we got enough sheep to clean up the Gulf? World wide? Time to ramp up the tests & demonstrations. What's good about it? What's not so good? What's better? If the answer to this is 'nothing,' then we know what to do. If the drawback is cost, we need to ask how much the Gulf shore is worth. Florida thinks a clean shore is worth $10 billion for their state. Not counting long term losses.
Meanwhile, run some demonstration tests. Say 1,000 yards of material; ask some handy people to build a small 'washing machine roller squeegee' to extract oil and renew the wool. Hire some fishing boat owners to spread and retrieve it; ask them for easier ways to do the job well. If it continues to work better than the alternatives, then go for it! Get to work with the little machinery while building more and bigger ones.
And one major plus for this material -- unlike dispersants, it isn't poison and doesn't mess up the water.
Jun 25, 2010 at 10:42 a.m.
Suggest removal
Crude oil is very thick. Would this still work? How about with waves and the wind blowing? It did take two fellows to press it down over the what looks like used motor oil, in a 5 ft wading pool inside a building.
Jun 25, 2010 at 10:29 a.m.
Suggest removal
wow!!
Jun 25, 2010 at 9:16 a.m.
Suggest removal
Channel 3 reported last night that someone from Monterey is going to take some fabric to the Gulf this weekend to see if it works on location.
Jun 25, 2010 at 8:01 a.m.
Suggest removal
I heard on the radio this morning that if BP actually "capped" that pipe, they could not go back at a later date and re-tap the pipe, essentially losing out on all of the oil. The theory is, BP is in no hurry to cap the pipe at all! They want to drill the relief wells instead so once that is done, they can then cap the pipe, and still get the oil through the relief wells! If that is true, BP Executives should be sent to prison for life!!!
Jun 25, 2010 at 7:10 a.m.
Suggest removal
Interesting! Way to go!
Jun 25, 2010 at 6:48 a.m.
Suggest removal
The ohbummer regime hasn't got the brains to even consider this idea or the hundreds of others that have been suggested. Meanwhile the oil continues to spoil the planet
Jun 24, 2010 at 10:33 p.m.
Suggest removal
Could this be why Obama is coming to wisconsin?
Jun 24, 2010 at 10:01 p.m.
Suggest removal
Question is this though: how much space will the oil-filled fiber take up? Can it be wrung out to obtain the oil? And how durable is it for weight, while it is being pulled out of the water?
Jun 24, 2010 at 6:02 p.m.
Suggest removal
I have submitted this article to the Deepwater Horizon Response! Hopefully they will send feedback!!
Jun 24, 2010 at 5:06 p.m.
Suggest removal
Great idea! Hope BP takes the hint and uses this brilliant solution to save our shores and water.
Before you post a comment, consider this:
Note: GazetteXtra.com does not condone or review every comment. Read more in our User Policy AgreementPost Comment
Commenting requires registration.