This sponge sucks oil spills right out of the ocean | Hard Reset

“A new wave of material sciences could help us start cleaning the environment instead of just, well, using it as a trash can.”
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No matter what your take on fossil fuels or renewable energy is - we can all agree that oil spills are not great, and we need a better way to clean them up.
Right now, to clean up the thousands of oil spills that happen each year in the United States, we mainly just set them on fire. It's called an in-situ burn. You get it so it's thick enough on top of the water that you can strike a flame and it'll actually just burn away.
But what if you could pull that oil out - and use it? And what if we might all be sitting on the solution? A new wave of material sciences could help us start cleaning the environment instead of just well, using it as a trash can. It turns out just one super common material, with a few atomic modifications, can clean up oil spills better than anything else we’ve got.
Watch on Freethink.com ► www.freethink.com/series/hard...
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Read more of our stories on oil spills:
Sun-powered soft robot could mop up the seas
► www.freethink.com/technology/...
Autonomous trash-eating boats clean up water pollution
► www.freethink.com/environment...
This magnetic sponge may be the key to oil spill cleanup
► www.freethink.com/technology/...
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Watch our original series:
► Hard Reset: freeth.ink/youtube-hard-reset
► Just Might Work: freeth.ink/youtube-just-might...
► Challengers: freeth.ink/youtube-challengers
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[@freethink]

Do you think this can work at scale?

[@robochelle]

I think the existing non-profit organization providing hair mats is already proven, is probably cheaper, and is an easily scalable process of recycling human hair from salons.

[@mehulbaldwa6606]

Why should it be more difficult to conduct distillation of oil water mixture obtained from spills

[@RGSTR]

Of course. It's just a matter of time. The money is already there, in the oil. I wouldn't get too enthusiastic about using it for absolutely everything, though. It's still a bunch of toxic materials involved in the process and we shouldn't try to replace nature where it is not necessary, but try to get back to a natural way of living altogether. Until then, cleaning up the problems created by technology with more technology remains a maybe-yes. I am glad that this sponge was created, it's nice to be able to work cleaner, but never think nature couldn't solve it itself. It solved the plastic half-life problem for example and it will keep on surprising us if we let it. Thanks for the video :)

[@DadundddaD]

I think it doesn't because this "oillovic" constructure will cost huge amount of money instead of a vacuumator with only one such a sponge.

[@clintwolf5737]

We could redirect the fines imposed on the "spillers" to fund this potential solution. If it isn't sufficient funding, raise the fines. I love how the "sponges" are reusable (squish out the oil that is picked up, then re-submerge the material for the next loop). This means we don't need to mass produce these at the same scale than if they were single-use items. Also extremely valuable is that the oil can be reused instead of just burned or dumped somewhere else. It's not great that we'll eventually be using the recovered oil to burn in our vehicles, but it is better than just burning it on the ocean surface.

[@NathanDrake_2023]

I am amazed that, the recovered oil can be sold again; but still no big companies are coming forward.

[@katzda]

That's great, wish they received a donation or some help they need to scale up

[@Vibe4ant]

As soon as freethink makes this video a fundraiser on KZbin they don't make money off of it. It's all about the money they're making a video to promote using oil.

[@xyeB]

I will donate to it when I get the money,wish there was some contact information

[@johncenile8044]

Or if only there was an organization that controlled a large group of people that could delegate some of their funds to things like bettering this world... The government. I'm talking about the government and if it was run better then things like this would be funded 🤷

[@BearMeat4Dinner]

I grew up in Chicago and one of my teachers worked at Argon.. Good times ! ❤

[@deweytann]

The brains of healing our planet! TY!

[@MegaEmmanuel09]

1:09 Thousands of oil spills by one country alone?? Well, maybe they'd stop spilling it if it wasn't so damn slippery!

[@elnadim]

Good stuff!

[@13thravenpurple94]

Great work 🥳🥳🥳 Thank you 💜💜💜

[@siriyakcr]

Nice work

[@manuperez3345]

come on youtube, this is important, do it viral

[@jeromehansen3969]

Cool idea. Congrats

[@kenji303]

This channel deserves more subscribers and views

[@powerofone1645]

Just police the polluters and fine them to clean up their mess. Game over.

[@jamesmetzger7320]

If the problem with making them larger is how far into the material the coating can go. Why not make it thinner so it doesn't need to be received from all sides to go all the way through.

[@dhanrajdabhi3896]

Mind-blowing

[@willm5814]

Maybe we should work on the root cause of all these oil spills?

[@nyceplayz8051]

FYI regular hay works just as well

[@Ashallmusica]

Let's be straight, government burn Fossil fuels because Citizens need energy so much in a regular basis that shifting or changing the use of Fossil fuel is the costly decision. Means, it's not We Can't but we Won't, ever. It's our Behaviour that we speak about this topic so much yet few of us were able to think about Execute the conspiracy.

[@tracyj2886]

Exciting work both in the labs and here on your hard reset reporting. How would one go about contacting Argonne for linking with potential investors on the sponge project? Thanks and keep up the good work!

[@DarkGT]

It's great to be prepared with this new methods, but I'm asking why we are thinking of new ways to deal with oils spills and not of how to stop using oil at all? This oil was going to be burned anyway, as petrol in your cars. It's great not to pollute, but the oil is still causing pollution, everyday all around us.

[@katieakin9397]

THIS

[@-A-c]

Large machinery like excavators need the petrol and batteries are still not powerful enough to carry out that work so petrol would still be necessary. But if we continue to innovate and remove as many unnecessary use cases (container ships, peaker plants, internal combustion engines of trucks, cars etc...All of these have working electric versions that just need to scale up further) the overall worldwide polluting effects can be significantly minimized.

[@DarkGT]

@@-A-c Remove/reduce first where is applicable. Diesel is also needed for farming, can't yet stop using oil everywhere.

[@lylestavast7652]

"why we are thinking of new ways to deal with oils spills and not of how to stop using oil at all? " 2 things exist at the same time, it's not an either / or... and we ARE working on how to stop using oil every day already. These transitions will take many decades to effect... Fix the worst of spills in a way you can reduce that pollution dramatically, even if imperfectly and continue adding new power generation techniques using sun/wave/geo etc... and address efficiency of end use to reduce need to generation to some degree.... they all work in concert toward a positive improvement at whatever pace...

[@VaryprshotOfficial]

@@lylestavast7652 boom, right here!

[@husnainanwaar1992]

thank you fellow Earthlings

[@whitenoise509]

Let's stop burning the oil when it spills. That way, we can save it for something else and burn the oil.

[@beebee4334]

I like the non profit company that uses large swaths of human hair to soak up oil spills. It doesn’t kill ocean life and doesn’t require a team of scientists to build a patented and profit-oriented product.

[@brentwgraham]

Ah yes. Human hair collection vs industry. Great job.

[@averagehummus]

but where do you get so much hair and put the oily hairs? the spongy cleaning also lets to reuse the oil

[@chessconnoisseur8763]

@@averagehummus hair saloons

[@shaylinmonk9208]

Billions upon billions of gallons are spilled from the ocean floor do to under water earthquakes.

[@WizOXer]

Woah, I need that sponge

[@DadundddaD]

But why they just don't use such a constructure that is used by air purifier with several thin layers of some filter? It would be more practically to use some pipes with vacuumator and grills that stop any garbage from water than such a long and thin roulette which can easily be rupted.

[@tigre3droyce771]

I suppose oi is still too cheap, that this idea isn't economically profitable to produce in bigger scale. Maybe that is the reason the big oil companies are not interested in it. What a shame.

[@mgalyean]

This is excellent. Now we could not only cleanup spills better, but also harvest oil from natural oil seeps. This is about 500,000 barrels per year from the Gulf of Mexico alone.

[@ChristianBehnke]

What a great concept - hope they can successfully upscale production to make this a viable solution! 👍🏻

[@macman30331]

the title in the thumbnail implies the goal of "big oil" is to caus oil spills

[@ninjaandocean3345]

Can oil spills happen without oil?

[@Vorexia]

@@ninjaandocean3345 No, but oil spills are a bad thing for big oil. Their goal is to extract oil, commodify it, and sell it. Oil spills inherently mean that there's less oil to sell, which reduces profits. But even worse for them is that oil spills are awful PR, and it motivates the people and regulators to restrict or even outright ban off-shore fracking. Deploying these sponges at a mass scale would be in the interests of big oil, not against them.

[@FENmap]

Uh, can they make this super small, plaque-philic, and find a way to get it into brains

[@maozedong549]

heard about surfactants. Yea? That's because it's cheaper and works well.

[@dandandan18]

Yea, the problem is, although dispersants (surfactants plus a bunch of other stuff) we use on oil spills are non toxic to marine life and ecoaystems, they can't be used on shallow water because of exactly how they work. Dispersants, as they are called, allow the oil spill to be broken into smaller droplets/ substances so they can be distributed and further broken down by microorganisms. In other words, we don't really take out the oil from the water, and it's really only best when used for smaller spills. Also, they have to be used as soon as possible before the saltwater and waves cause the oil's emulsification with water. Unfortunately, the droplets seriously mess up corals and seashell beds, not to mention they can contaminate desalination facilities or fisheries. Dispersants also need to be further studied on their effects on the cellular level especially for organisms that aren't capable of breaking down the dispersed oil. The materials in this video, on the other hand, can mechanically/ physically separate the oil from the sea without reacting with it and they are inert so they won't add any more problems when used on cases where surfactants won't work or work as well.

[@prestigiousindian]

We mess, we clean.

[@igorbukovy4313]

Good idea but this will be again about mass production and consuption. Real solution is to get rid of fosil fuels!

[@divinejusticefeelsgood]

We found the holy grail. Lets spill oil everywhere now

[@mehulbaldwa6606]

Think about alternative solutions like distillation of oil water mixture using solar heat on ships. It is already possible and proven tech and almost equal or less processing as compared to this solution. Remember getting oil out of sponge on that scale would be a big task given its oleophillic nature.

[@hansenyang4014]

However heating up the oil water mixture is very dangerous. Accident can occur from the heated water or oil. Moreover, the oleo sponge can be recycled after multiple runs and can even retrieve the spilt oil. It seems like the best method so far.

[@jcofortco]

Not a scientist, but curious why that would be difficult? Admittedly the test was done on a small scale of a 1" cube... Yet they satisfactorily demonstrated while the sponge IS oleophillic, it is also rather easy to essentially "wring" out to capture said oils & other related products. I would think a rolling/pressure process similar to printing newspapers, or making sheets of metals would be "easy" enough to convert for this sponge, thus essentially allowing the captured products to be forced out & taken for use. Maybe ? It makes sense in my brain anyway. (;

[@_ninthRing_]

A more obscure use may be to separate waste fatty acids out of Sewage. This fatty buildup acts as a revolting glue to bind together other materials (such as nappies & sanitary napkins flushed down toilets by morons) slowing flow & developing into massive formations - affectionately known as "Fat-bergs" - which clog up metropolitan sewers (causing backflow which is best left to the imagination, rather than experienced firsthand). These things can weigh dozens of tonnes & often have to be removed with backbreaking labor by sewer workers (in pressure suits) using shovels & wheelbarrows - as well as high pressure, industrial water-stream vacuum pumps. It's hardly a healthy material to dump out at sea, either, causing many of the same environmental problems as crude oil, but with added hormones & toxins from human digestion. Having removable/recyclable filters (of this new high-tech polymer foam) to extract these sorts of fatty acids from both metro pipes & sewerage processing factories would be both helpful for the environment & also a lucrative new economic resource - as it could be used to feed bacteria Genegineered for all sorts of functions (a making full recycling of sewerage a more viable project, rather than the wasteful open-ended dumping of nutrients from the land into the sea).

[@Kevin_Street]

That's a great idea!

[@recluseax]

this sponge is lot better than burning the oil

[@user-ic7mv6bj4w]

That's amazing.

[@robbiekavanagh2802]

The problem is just that vapour deposition is an expensive process which doesn't scale well. There's nothing special about polyurethane foam other than the fact that it's cheap and has a lot of surface area. Human hair is oleophilic as well and there are companies who take donations of hair to make 'mats' which they float on oil spills to perform the same function. They're oleophilic with lots of surface area and they float. Maybe the oil from hair mats isn't reusable though?

[@GuidoPerdomo]

But hair absorbs water as well, which makes it less efficient.

[@sekharproductions2222]

Gosh this is so exciting

[@ikiyytours2320]

Like his voice

[@MrYoutupp]

I heard there is a company in california that uses hair for that...

[@dutchman8129]

Isn’t there enough plastic/polyurethane in the ocean already? Ready and waiting to be used, for free?

[@SP-ny1fk]

Like an Italian person

[@husnainanwaar1992]

solar energy is very clean

[@sanjuansteve]

END FOSSIL FUELS!! #SwitchToSolar #SwitchToElectric

[@Coolmark123]

Godamn this is so cool

[@Randomvideos-yr6cc]

I guess sponge made of human hairs were considered best?

[@victorcaceres9603]

Hey Elon Must! Hey Bill Gates! Water is life! Get on this!

[@terrafirma9328]

Sorry vaccines and EVs are more important to them.

[@juanmacias5922]

This is such a game changer! Crowdfunding?

[@terrafirma9328]

The crowdfunding campain better include keeping the harvested oil the oil companies lost, finders keepers😁

[@juanmacias5922]

@@terrafirma9328 Yoooooooo, that's such a great incentive!

[@ryanjones4917]

This is awesome, I would think investing in the scalability of this product would be in everyone's best interest. With the ability to reclaim lost product I would think oil companies would love to help. This is an opportunity for oil companies and environmentalists to actually work together to do something beneficial to both parties.

[@ryanmartinez874]

LOL oil companies don't give. ashit about doing things for the betterment of the planet

[@ryanjones4917]

@@ryanmartinez874 They care about profit, tax write-offs, and PR. Their motives aside, this would still be in their best interests.

[@spHDfilms1]

Don’t hold your breath

[@mehulbaldwa6606]

Think about alternative solutions like distillation before investing. It is already possible and proven tech and almost equal or less processing as compared to this solution. Remember getting oil out of sponge on that scale would be a big task given its oleophillic nature

[@ryanjones4917]

@@mehulbaldwa6606 I understand the fundamentals of the process but would need to look into how it works in practice with regard to this specific application. I'm all for solutions, if all we have to do is implement an existing practice I would be all for it. I know sometimes existing solutions get stifled so entities can cash in on all the government grant money to find solutions to problems that could easily be solved with existing tech or policy changes.

[@kamandembugua5165]

this s a nobel prize innovation :: is there any way or research on this which could be used in water desalination

[@mobuildsstuff]

A billionth of an inch or maybe u meant 1 angstrom? Pls use appropriate units.

[@vincentmiller420]

8:54 I can probably do it.

[@philipalcazar]

Best way to clean up oil spills? Stop burning fossil fuels altogether.

[@willismiller7035]

Fossil fuels are not the primary demand source for oil. Plastics and other petrochemicals are. So...no. That wouldn't work.

[@snaplash]

We'll still need oil to lubricate stuff if plant oils can't do it.

[@krishchauhan235]

If we did that, we’d effectively and immediately shutdown the entire world. The economy would go in shock. And we’d die before renewables could take over. Best way is to transition.

[@teroviander442]

Absolutely genious. Yeah just stop it. It's like clicking a switch. Problem solved.

[@Tomas-tx6lq]

Fossil fuels make up for 83% of all energy in the world. Switching that of is easier said than done 👍

[@edwardboylan4187]

I wonder if this has practicality for lithium pool extraction to save water

[@martin096]

3:58 - The machines are becoming alive 😳

[@dualfluidreactor]

All what this one inch cube could handle is just a drop in the ocean.

[@moweME]

It's a shame how many cool hard reset ideas there are out in the wild, but no one producing these things.

[@Mede_N]

because, usually, they over-promise and under-deliver. for example, this sponge here might be nice in theory, but the costs might be too high for a large scale projects (or it's just hard to scale up the process to produce enough foam for big projects, see around 5:00). in reality, oil spills tend spread over many square-miles and scaling up this sponge-procedure to tackle this problem might just not be feasible.

[@moweME]

@@Mede_N they dont have to produce lage sized units. You saw the idear with the boat. Whats about the other episodes? The vertical growing shelfs are awesome and can be deployed more often without any ease. But they won't. Why? Due to political maniacs who are pumping money into wrong, environmentally damaging, technologies.

[@Ria-sd2ex]

It's probably gonna take average people to make it happen. The powers that be, the "job creators", political and business power houses could care less.

[@Mede_N]

@@moweME even though, they don't give details, it seems very hard/expensive to upscale their operation. keep in mind, that they only presented fancy 3D renders, in reality the process will be much more complicated and has to be much bigger (than suggested by the animation). i'm not a general nay-sayer, however, I've been around the block and many promising "revolutionary" new concepts turned out to be impractical, too limited, or just too expensive. I expected, that someone would bring a counter-example, that's why I used the word "usually", in my first sentence :). With "vertical growing shelfs", do you mean the vertical farming video? I watched it back then, also did some "fact checking" on it. it turns out (as far as i remember), that vertical farming is relatively limited (in the plants they can easily grow) and is - compared to traditional farming - much more expensive (at the current scale). vertical farming, however, actually might very well be the future, because due to climate change (and modern farming methods) much fertile farmland will be destroyed. so, in a few years to decades, there will be a strong necessity for competitive alternative farming methods (that use recycled water, renewable energies and are efficient in their use of space) and vertical farming might very well fit those need. Cheers!

[@moweME]

@@stringseeker no. My opinion is still the same. Humanity is still financially supporting ecologically wrong approaches to "support humans".

[@elizabethhurtado2829]

👓🕯🕯

[@lordcrunk4790]

Neat, but human hair is the best oil sponge sez some science.

[@jeeriramesh1104]

😇😱🧐

[@WizOXer]

with it actually being reusable, it can be a great bussiness

[@thebeware4171]

Noice

[@Vibe4ant]

Back in school during sex ed I remember being asked what's the best way to stay safe and the answer was just don't partake in sex. I think the rule should apply here if it's not good for everything the planet nature and us then we shouldn't use it we shouldn't continue to manufacture it but we should continue to look for alternative ways to have something similar that still check all the boxes.

[@xyeB]

🤡 this u

[@martinbrecknock3900]

This would be improved if you dropped the cool kid wannabe humour... just a thought

[@ryanjones4917]

Someone call Elon and see if he's willing to help finance this.

[@mackenziewoods8201]

your voice over guy isnt funny