Kevin Costner's Oil Spill Centrifuge Technology Deployed

[Downtown Hound]

Run time: 02:11 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C9-e0TfwrIc   Posted on YouTube: June 24, 2010 By YouTube Member: BPplc Views on YouTube: 69745   Posted on DU: June 28, 2010 By DU Member: Downtown Hound Views on DU: 1326

 
So it begins. BP has orderd 32 of the machines, which Costner's company, Ocean Therapy Solutions, says can remove 99% of the oil from sewater at a rate of 200 gallons per minute. Apparently there are still some kinks to work out, but they expect to have all of the machines deployed within the next two months.

I think these are going to make a real difference. 32 of those tackling the oil night and day could make a real impact. If they can get that collection system going to where its catching up ALL the oil spewing into the gulf, and get these machines working on the cleanup, things might just start going our way again.

[nenagh]

1. Very good news...

in a world of hurt.. thanks for posting this..

[yellerpup]

2. At last a ray of hope.

:kick: & Rec.

[vanbean]

3. Thanks. But, do the math.

[notadmblnd]

5. Since you seem to have a ahndle on Math

Why don't you do it for us? Explain to us how using these machines won't help since you statement implies that they won't.

[tk2kewl]

7. Look down a few posts...

nt

[Downtown Hound]

19. Done. See post #18.

[TheEuclideanOne]

23. You asked a GREAT question. That was my first reaction as well.

When I first heard about the numbers, it really did not seem so high. 200 times anything didn't seem like it would put a dent in this enourmous amount of oil. After reading the calculations, it seems very promising.

[ljm2002]

4. Here's hoping! K&R!!! n/t

[OregonBlue]

15. Agreed! Here's hoping, K & R.

[tk2kewl]

6. So how many contaminated gallons of water are there?

the Gulf of Mexico contains approximately 660,000,000,000,000,000 gallons of water. So lets say 10% is polluted.

66,000,000,000,000,000 gallons of polluted water...
divided by 200 gallons per minute = 3,300,000,000,000,000 minutes... or 6,278,538,813 years.

Oh wait... I forgot they have 32 of them. That's only 196,204,338 years if they never break down and can run continuously.

[thereismore]

11. Great. Let's just sit back then. nt

[Sky Masterson]

14. Thank you!

:applause:

[Downtown Hound]

18. How about doing the CORRECT math?

The oil began to spill on April 22nd, correct? So it's been spewing for roughly 70 days at a rate of 60,000 barrels a day. That's about 4,200,000 barrels of oil in the gulf. At 42 gallons per barrel, that's 176,400,000 gallons of oil in the gulf.

There are 1440 minutes in a day. 1440 multiplied by 200 (the amount of oily seawater the machines can process per minute)is 288,000. 288,000 multiplied by 32 (the number of machines) is 9,288,000. That's how many total gallons of seawater could technically be cleaned by these machines per day.

Now, I'll be conservative and pretend that only one gallon of oil is extracted for every eight gallons of seawater processed. That's still over a million gallons of oil per day that could be cleaned. One million divided by 42 is roughly 38,000.

That's a low end estimate of almost 40,000 barrels of oil per day that could be processed by these machines. And the actual number could be much higher, given that the oil will be brought to the tanker with the centrifuges by skimmers. All the machines have to do is sit there and suck it up all day long. They could pull out a HUGE amount of oil.

Don't get me wrong, it will still take a LONG time to get all the oil out, but it can be done. Restoring the ecosytem after that is going to be the real challenge.

[truedelphi]

24. A correction - it is my understanding that there are

47 gallons to a barrel of oil.

And a lot depends on the stability of the floor of the Gulf. If as some people fear, the whole Gulf floor is about to overwhelmed with bursts of methane and then further spewings of oil, we haven't got a chance.

[Downtown Hound]

25. 42 gallons is the size of a U.S. barrel

And yes, if the floor does rupture, then we're pretty much screwed. I don't know what kind of science they're really basing that on though. I haven't heard anything that I would consider reputable on that other than a lot of the standard 2012 apocalyptic crap. That fear report from the Russian scientists was strongly biased in favor of "nuking" the well, so I'm not really sure I put a whole lot of credibility in it either. Seems to me that if you're worried about the ocean floor rupturing, then nuking it would be a BAD idea.

The actual oil is thousands of feet below the bottom of the gulf, thousands of feet of solid rock. I personally find it hard to believe that it would all just burst open or crash, but I'll admit I'm no scientist.

[tk2kewl]

27. have you taken a look at the satellite photos

the oil is everywhere. and that is only showing what is on the surface. how about the plumes and corexit treated oil throughout the water column. to assume that the overall concentration of oil is 1:8 seems overly optimistic. what has been spilled to date is really a lost cause. the machines could help at the point of attack assuming the spewing oil could be contained to a manageable area.

[Downtown Hound]

28. There is no overall concentration of oil

It's all over the place in different concentrations. As I have now said several times, skimmers go around and collect it and bring it back to the ships with these machines on it. Then they take a hose, stick it into the oily water in the skimming net, and suck away. The actually concentration of oil that these machines will process will be quite high because it's already been collected by a skimmer.

I have seen those satellite photos. And all I can say is, the sooner they get started, the better. But if you'd rather be defeatist and say that nothing will help, that's your business. Fortunately people like Costner and others don't give up so easily. The planet deserves better.

[tk2kewl]

29. I am not being defeatist...

Everything that can be done should be done. I simple refuse to be "irrationally exuberant" about the prospects either.

[Downtown Hound]

30. No one is asking you to be "irrationally exuberant"

What you are doing is actually being irrational. First you suggest that these machines are going to go and suck all of the water out of the Gulf of Mexico and present it as a hopeless cause. Do you honestly think that's what they're going to try and do?

And everytime one of your irrational and defeatist statements gets shot down, you come up with another one. Frankly, it's boring. The gulf ain't going anywhere friend. Even if we have to clean it for years with these machines, then that's what we're going to do. And contrary to all your whiny protestations, it WILL help and help a lot.

[tk2kewl]

31. I am not whining nor am saying it won't help at the point of the spill.

I am simply pointing out that the mess is beyond the scale of what our technology can fix. I never suggested that they machines would need to suck up all of the water in the gulf, but pointed out that if 10% were contaminated it would take longer than the planet has been around to clean up the existing contamination. the gulf has been royally fucked and no one should expect it to be as it was for a very long time.

[Downtown Hound]

32. I don't expect it to ever be as it was in my lifetime ever again

That still doesn't mean that we can't get the oil out and begin the healing process.

[Celebration]

8. Let's see

200 gallons per min per ship

x60 minutes/hr=

12000 gallons per hour per ship

x24 hours/day=

288000 gallons per day per ship (assuming 24 hours, very generous est.)

x32 ships

9,216,000 gallons per day of seawater cleaned.

These ships are meant to respond right away to a spill, where there is a really high percentage of oil/seawater ratio.

If there are 80,000 barrels of oil per day being spilled, then

80,000x

55 gallons per barrel

4,400,000 gallons per day of oil being spilled

That means that the ships, fully deployed, could keep up with the amount being gushed if the "seawater" being cleaned was roughly 50% oil. If substantially less than 50%, it wouldn't keep up.

But hopefully the relief wells will make a difference.

[tk2kewl]

9. that does nothing for all of the oil that has already been dispersed

[Celebration]

12. I know

Plus it is dispersed so thinly that cleaning seawater that is 50% oil seems unlikely. But, if the gusher can be stopped in a couple of months, this could make a big difference over the course of the next several months.

Again, these ships were developed to be put in use immediately after the spill. This will help, but a lot of the damage on the beaches and in the sea will already have been done by the time this is able to do a good job.

I was just trying to put some numbers on it.

[Downtown Hound]

20. Remember that by next week, the containment system around the well

is supposed to be able to collect 50,000 barrels of oil per day and that by the middle of July up to 80,000. That alone would make whatever theses machines process a net negative of oil in the gulf.

[Celebration]

21. one problem is that by now

The oil is so widely disbursed. It's unlikely that very much of the seawater will come anywhere close to being comprised of 50% oil--and some parts it may be as little as 2%.

Again, this system is most likely wildly effective if employed immediately. Still, I welcome them.

[Downtown Hound]

22. Remember that it's the skimmers that will be bringing the oil

to the ships with the centrifuges. The skimmers will be out there looking for oil and collecting it. And they they stick the hose down in the oily goop, and suck away. The actual water that will be processed from the machines will have a very high oil content.

[Celebration]

26. Okay, let's hope

They run very efficiently, AND that the relief wells work. Again, I welcome them. Wish they could so something about those plumes of oil.

[earth mom]

10. Hallelujah! And I say that as an agnostic.

Maybe there is a god after all.

Nah.

[Sky Masterson]

13. I forgive Kev for Waterworld

:) :applause:

[Whisp]

16. hahah, I liked waterworld. It was the Bodyguard that sucked donkey arse.

but I will forever hold my tongue against anything anti-costner or his works from this post forward.

A new found love for him, I think he is absolutely wonderful and amazing to have been thinking of this for so many years and working so hard to have it accepted.

:applause: :applause: :applause: :applause: :applause: :applause: :applause: :applause: :applause: :applause:

[Sky Masterson]

17. He did good.

Real good!
If this saves animals Mr Costner walks on water in my book. :applause:

[123abawd]

33. the Postman delivers!