Basalt now argued to be highly efficient in absorbing oil from marine ecosystems

Jul 23, 2012 12:22 GMT  ·  By

Israeli company EcoBasalt argues that its recently developed SB-1 (i.e. a material based on basalt fibers extracted from volcanic rock) is highly efficient in absorbing environmental oil spills.

This means that said material could successfully be used by drilling companies worldwide in order to improve on how their activities impact on the environment.

Moreover, they argue that, as opposed to traditional clean up solutions, manufacturing and using SB-1 would be relatively cheap, so the material would also be a smarter choice financially wise.

Apparently, SB-1 has already been tested in the Netherlands and in the US, where it proved its efficiency as far as dealing with marine oil spills is concerned.

Its manufacturers also make a point of how, as opposed to other sorbents, SB-1 poses no health threats, mainly because it is made entirely out of minerals and no other chemical compounds are used when manufacturing it.

One other major advantage of the SB-1 is that it can presumably be used several times before it begins to fail in doing its job. It basically acts like a sponge, which one can squeeze dry once it's done its work.

Israeli Innovation News reports that, in one of his most recent interviews, Robert Barzilay from EcoBasalt explained to members of the press that “Current oil sorbent materials, made of oil derivatives such as polypropylene, are inefficient and slow.”

He further argued that “Besides that, they have to be disposed of after the job, which is not only very costly, but in fact only moves the pollution to landfills, or into the atmosphere when burnt at sea. Thus, they still leave toxic residues at sea and have carbon particles land somewhere else.”

For the time being, EcoBasalt is waiting for several foreign companies to step up and invest in this project. Should things go as planned, SB-1 large-scale production could begin as early as December.

From where we stand, if this material is indeed as efficient as it claims to be in terms on cleaning up oil spills, then the drilling industry should begin making use of it as soon as possible.