Perspectives on Innovation

The days and weeks pass, and oil continues to blast upwards from the bottom of the Gulf. And as time marches on, we continue to receive submissions from you about how to stop the gushing oil and protect the coastline. Because of the importance and magnitude of this disaster, and because we want to keep you apprised of various InnoCentive activity around this Challenge, we are glad to share during the coming weeks the details of several key solutions and ideas we’ve received from you. Today’s post is a summary of a submission by Renate Wortelboer.

Pipes–horizontal or vertical–from which oil leaks under enormous pressure, could be closed by using the strongest magnets available in several sizes.

A custom made, cone shaped strong magnet with a “collar” at its widest diameter to fit the pipe could withstand the pressure of the flowing oil. If this magnet is not strong enough to withstand the pressure, another magnet could be added on top of the cap, like halter weights.

Small crevices could be covered with a layer of small metal and magnets. The entire structure could then be sealed off with bitumen, cold asphalt, synthetic rubber or any other sealing material. To finish, the bedrock could be restored with stones.

Schematic cross-cut overview:

1. Pipe to be closed
2. Main magnet, first placed
3. Extra weights
4. Magnetic “wings” as long as possible
5. Layer of bits of metal & magnets
6. Layer of sealant
7. Layer of stones

Notes:

It could be investigated whether the wings should be attached later or be on the main magnet already. However, an on/off switch will be required for the wings if already attached.

Around the entire structure, to seal it properly, a thick layer of a mixed iron/steel/magnets could be used. When a layer of synthetic rubber, for example, reinforced with any metal is chosen, it would help if the underlying layer still has magnetic properties.

The main magnet could also be composed of magnetic cubes or balls, glued or attached to steel rods to create a cone shape. This might save time.

Resources for further reading:

Cold asphalt: http://www.coldasphalt.com/

Magnet supplier: http://www.supermagnete.nl/eng/index.php

The days and weeks pass, and oil continues to blast upwards from the bottom of the Gulf. And as time marches on, we continue to receive submissions from you about how to stop the gushing oil and protect the coastline. Because of the importance and magnitude of this disaster, and because we want to keep you apprised of various InnoCentive activity around this Challenge, we are glad to share during the coming weeks the details of several key solutions and ideas we’ve received from you. Today’s post is a summary of a submission by Senthil Kumar.

The aim of this solution is to minimize the oil’s environmental impact to the ocean, land, and life. Coconut Coir (CC) is the fibrous layer outside the coconut shell. It is used around the globe in the manufacture of soil treatments, rope, and doormats.

CC can be used to absorb the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico. CC is an excellent bio-absorbent, used for horticultural applications and purposes. It also has very good water retention properties.

The individual fiber cells are narrow and hollow, with thick walls made of Lignin and Cellulose. The phenolic groups in lignin are responsible for initiating the absorbent property. Lignocellulosic materials, such as CC, containing a higher amount of phenolic groups are expected to be more effective scavengers for removal of oils and hydrocarbon from the environment.

CC can absorb as much as 50 times its weight in oil.

Further, CC can be treated with keratin protein (found naturally in goat hair) to improve its oleophilic and aquaphobic properties. The chemically modified novel CC pith can be used for oil absorption and to absorb metals (chromium, lead, zinc, etc.) and hydrocarbons, and its absorbing capacity may increase up to 70%.

The advantages of using CC over other natural and synthetic products are many: it is a low cost solution; it is eco-friendly and bio-degradable; it is 100% natural and widely available (the total world CC fiber production is 250,000 tons—India produces 60% of the total world supply of white coir fiber, while Sri Lanka produces 36% of the total world brown fiber output).

The days and weeks pass, and oil continues to blast upwards from the bottom of the Gulf. And as time marches on, we continue to receive submissions from you about how to stop the gushing oil and protect the coastline. Because of the importance and magnitude of this disaster, and because we want to keep you apprised of various InnoCentive activity around this Challenge, we are glad to share during the coming weeks the details of several key solutions and ideas we’ve received from you. Today’s post is a summary of a submission by Michael White.

Michael White, of Templeman Automation, proposes pneumatic barriers made of sintered rubber aeration tubing.  Such tubing is available for aquaculture applications at about $1/ft, making rapid deployment of long-baseline (>1000ft) pneumatic barriers cost-effective.  It can be made of recycled materials, and does not suffer reduced efficiency from salinity encountered by traditional bubblers.  Specifically, the strength, flexibility, and low drag of sintered bubblers make them well suited for towed applications in which a shipboard compressor provides air to a trailing bubbler system.  Such a mobile system has advantages in three depth regimes:

1. Surface – Towed bubbler arrays provide mobile platforms for “corralling” moving oil as more permanent barriers are devised; adapting to immediate ocean current and wind conditions.  Templeman Automation has tested aeration array systems with up to 1000cfm air flow at over 8 knots.
2. Mid-Water – The depth of the towed bubbler system can be adjusted such that oil suspended in the water column is above the array and thus entrained in the rising bubble plume.  Oil is thereby forced to the surface for remediation.
3. Sea Floor – Towed bubblers can be used to “suction” oil from the sea floor, providing a non-contact pressure gradient that is gentle to sea-floor habitats.  The small bubbles created by aeration tube systems transfer beneficial dissolved-oxygen to affected sea-floor ecosystems.

Michael White, Templeman Automation

I wanted to get a quick blog out today to share some big news: we have been working tirelessly for several months on redesigning our website – I’m pleased and excited to let you know our launch date is in sight, planned for later this summer!

The new site features improved flows, better and more content, and a complete new look & feel we think you’re going to love!

Solver Input: A couple weeks ago I sent an email to a large portion of our Solvers asking for help reviewing and testing aspects of the redesigned website and its content. We received more than two hundred responses within the first twenty-four hours.

Thank you to everyone who responded to the call!

With your input, we’re more excited than ever about the launch.

We’ll provide a more detailed summary of the changes as well as the launch date in a couple weeks.

Best,
JD

The days and weeks pass, and oil continues to blast upwards from the bottom of the Gulf. And as time marches on, we continue to receive submissions from you about how to stop the gushing oil and protect the coastline. Because of the importance and magnitude of this disaster, and because we want to keep you apprised of various InnoCentive activity around this Challenge, we are glad to share over the next several weeks the details of several key solutions and ideas we’ve received from you. Today’s post is a summary of a submission by Geoff Daly, who is a relatively new InnoCentive Solver.

This barrier solution is really an answer to Louisiana’s Plaquemines Parish President Billy Nungessers request for protection of the Barrier Islands.

The floating Barge solution will protect the barrier Islands from being further contaminated by oils coming ashore. There are available between Baton Rouge and Slidell approximately thirty-two hundred and fifty river barges each at least hundred feet long. This number is more than sufficient to produce a barrier structure in front of all the Barrier Islands from nearly Dauphin Island extending west of Grand Island at a fixed position based on the 30-foot high tide mark. The barges—placed in a row nose-to-stern is nearly 73 miles long. And the barges are there now.

These resources can be immediately mobilized within hours, not days or months, and require no dredge and fill permits or forms from USACE.

Additionally, Saint-Gobain’s ChemFab division can fabricate the Teflon barrier material in continuous lengths (this material is used for huge roofing areas at airports and places UK Millennium Dome, and is rated for 250 MPH and 978 Lbs/in tensile.

We would solid-weld the barges together and anchor accordingly, then use skimmers cruising up and down to get the oil against the Teflon barrier all the way down 30 feet.