Abtech Industries, Inc.

Other

Unique Products, Inc.

Peter A Allen

Glenn R Rink

Robert L Rosania

Jan R Hegeman

James F Morris

Stephen C Stelpstra

Paul Charles Wegner

David R Smith

Thomas C Johnson

Gary L Dunkel

Gary R Haefele

Robert S Richfield

One or more water- and oil-porous containers or sacks are made of a pair of mesh sheets affixed together and stiffened around their perimeter. The sacks can be partially filled with a multitude of tubular bodies made of an oil-entrapping polymer, which have their longest dimension parallel to an axial hole. A preferred material is composed of a combination of SBS and EPDM, formed by an extrusion technique, to create highly fissured generally cylindrical bodies. The sacks may be deployed in areas where oil is floating on water, such as where oil has spilled from tankers on oceans, seas, lakes, or rivers. When the bodies are afloat, oily water can pass through the axial holes of and around the bodies, maximizing the surface area contacted by the oil and minimizing gel blocking. After a time sufficient for the bodies in the sacks to adsorb oil, the sacks can be collected. Various deployment and collection methods are disclosed. After collection, the oil may be recycled; alternatively the sacks may be incinerated, to recover the energy content for use as power while disposing of the oil.

Sack-based processes for recovering oil floating on water

An oil-sorbent composition of matter has bound combinations of styrene-butadiene-styrene (SBS) and ethylene propylene diene monomer (EPDM). The SBS, or both materials, may be in the form of multitudes of granules. In certain preferred embodiments, the combination is 10-30% by weight and the SBS is about 30% styrene and manufactured without talc. The composition of matter can be formed into a solid, compliant body and utilized in a product for absorbing oil. The body can be formed, in one preferred embodiment, into an extended cylinder having an axial hole.

Systems for ameliorating aqueous hydrocarbon spills

A method and apparatus for continuously removing oil from oil-bearing solids such as tar sands, vegetables or other solid materials using a solvent is provided. By providing a pressure differential between the exterior and interior of an oil extraction chamber, substantially oil free solids may be removed from the oil extraction chamber through a solids extraction channel without removing any substantial volume of solvent through the solids extraction channel.

Method for recovering oil from an oil-bearing solid material

A plurality of water- and oil-porous sacks are partially filled with a number of generally toroidal bodies of a polymer material that entraps oil and including mesh fragments scattered throughout the bodies. Each sack is sewn with a perimeter stiffening ring, to retain a flat profile, and has a netting that closes to help inhibit outflow of the oil when the sack is retrieved. When deployed from ship or by air onto a spill, the sacks spread into a pancake shape and the polymer matter forms a single layer that retains the oil. The inventive sacks will float indefinitely without releasing the oil or allowing it to emulsify, so the oil can remain in place until collection efforts are feasible. The sacks can be burned in situ, or standard fishing boats or specialized collection boats can be used to retrieve the sacks, and the collected material can be burned to capture the energy content of the oil or processed to separate the oil from the polymer. The inventive sacks can be used in conjunction with other, known containment or retrieval equipment, such as booms or skimmers. The system is specifically designed for rapid deployment and efficiency in rough water.

Methods for ameliorating oil spills in marine and inland waters

A method for removing petroleum contaminants from larger-size and smaller-size petroleum-bearing earth-like materials using a movable apparatus. The method includes the steps of loading larger-size and smaller-size petroleum-bearing earth-like materials onto the movable apparatus, screening larger-size petroleum-bearing earth-like material from smaller-size petroleum-bearing earth-like material, spraying larger-size petroleum-bearing earth-like materials with an aqueous cleansing solution having a biodegradable emulsifier therein to remove petroleum contaminants therefrom and to substantially cleanse the larger-size earth-like material and discharging substantially cleansed larger-size earth-like material from the movable apparatus, mixing an aqueous cleansing solution having a biodegradable emulsifier therein with smaller-size petroleum-bearing earth-like material to form a slurry, agitating the slurry, washing smaller-size petroleum-bearing earth-like material remaining in the slurry to remove petroleum contaminants therefrom and to substantially cleanse said smaller-size earth-like material, removing substantially cleansed smaller-size earth-like material from aqueous cleansing solution and petroleum contaminants in the slurry, dewatering substantially cleansed smaller-size earth-like material, discharging substantially cleansed smaller-size earth-like material from the movable apparatus, removing petroleum contaminants from aqueous cleansing solution and discharging petroleum contaminants from the movable apparatus.

Method for removing chemical contaminants from material and apparatus

Greenhouse plants are displayed on horizontal shelves supported between side rails extending at an angle between vertical support posts, the posts being interconnected in pairs between confronting vertical grooves formed in the posts. Each shelf is assembled from elongated sections held in parallel spaced relation to each other by spacers at the longitudinal ends of the shelf which are received within grooves formed in the side rails.

Growing community of inventors

Calistoga, CA, United States of America

Peter A Allen