Projects

Although preventative measures can be taken to lower the risk of damage from energy development, accidents cannot be entirely avoided. To help mitigate the impacts to the environment, BEEG aims to improve oil spill response and environmental remediation technology. Below is a partial list of technologies currently under investigation at BEEG:

 

Rica

The Rica aeration system was engineered by Caius Camargo in Brazil. The system works based on cyclonic technology he modeled after Russian flame throwers. The water is passed through a chamber in a cyclone path and air is “gently” added. The advancement of this technology is that the chamber increases the atmospheric pressure, allowing for an increase of O2 beyond that of normal aeration under ambient pressure.

Rica AerationRica AerationRica Aeration

 

CytoSol

The CytoSol Process is an oil spill remediation technology developed under a series of USDA research grants (1994-2001) for cleaning oiled shorelines, marshes, and estuaries using a ‘biosolvent’ made from vegetable oil (e.g., soya).

The CytoSol Process is a two-step approach to removing crude oil and other heavy petroleum products from impacted shoreline environments:

  1. Removal and Recovery of spilled oil by dissolving the petroleum into the aggressive, non-toxic CytoSol BioSolvent sprayed directly onto rocks, beaches, shorelines, marshes, and river banks. The CytoSol causes the weathered oil to dissolve into the biosolvent, thereby ‘lifting and floating’ the dense petroleum that would otherwise stick to the shore or sink in the water column. The floating oil-CytoSol mixture is then recovered with mechanical skimmers for recycling at a refinery or burned as a bunker fuel in boilers. Typically 60-80% of surface oil can be recovered.
  2. Aggressive bioremediation of the residual petroleum and CytoSol hydrocarbons using moderate doses of nutrient and composting methods to facilitate biodegradation. The biosolvent has oleophilic nutrients included in the proprietary formulation. Field and lab research indicate rapid biodegradation rates over the 4-6 weeks following the application.
CytoSolCytoSolCytoSol

More information about CytoSol can be found here.

 

Banner photo source: Hudsön under creative commons.