5 ways to clean up oil spills?

Answer 1

There are lots of ways. Let's discount "ignore it until it goes away on its own" and "wait until it washes up on a beach and can be scrubbed off by hand."

Five of the ways left are:

1. Suck up the oil after you contain it with floating oil booms
2. Absorb free oil with absorbent pillows or fibers then clean them up
3. Emulsify it into the water column
4. Use an endless belt of absorbent or hydrophobic material to draw the oil up into a scraper
5. Burn it off with wicking ceramic balls

Answer:

Invite Kevin Kosner's scientist brother to place all his equipment in areas not already being busily cleaned up by BP. One centrifuge-machine can clean up to 200,000 gallons of sea water per day. As long as he is not hampering on-going operations why not "turn him loose" and let him "show us what his technology can do"?

Answer

• Notify local authorities as necessary.
• Contain the spill using the appropriate equipment (i. e. dams etc. on land, booms on water)
• Use absorbent material to soak up oil.
• Dispose of this material appropriately.
• Absorbent materials include Oil-Dry, SpillFix, spill kits, various pads, etc.
• Consider eco-friendly oil absorbent products you can find online that are much more effective than clay-based absorbents and don't have related health risks.
• Remove contaminated soil for disposal (on land)
• Replace removed soil with clean material (on land)