The Oleo Sponge technology, developed by researchers at the U.S. Department of Energy’s Argonne National Laboratory to clean up oil spills, has been named a finalist for a 2019 Index Award.
Colloquially known as the “Nobel Prizes of Design,” the Index Awards are selected by The Index Project, a Danish nonprofit organization that recognizes technology and designs that improve the lives of people worldwide. The awards are given out every two years.
Technologies that are eligible for Index Awards must address genuine needs and have the potential to improve life and constitute a new concept that is not a reinterpretation of an older design.
Developed in 2017, the Oleo Sponge consists of a polyurethane foam specially treated with oil-adsorbing molecules through an Argonne-pioneered process called sequential infiltration synthesis. The Oleo Sponge can remove spilled oil from a body of water, not only from the surface but also below the surface, in the water column.
Additionally, the Oleo Sponge can be reused again and again by wringing out the oil.
“This technology is so important because, despite the industry’s best intentions, oil spills continue to happen, and existing cleanup methods are surprisingly inadequate,” said co-inventor Seth Darling, director of the Center for Molecular Engineering and the Advanced Materials for Energy-Water Systems Center.
In a series of tests in New Jersey and California, the Oleo Sponge demonstrated the ability to capture and remove oil from bodies of water in real-world or simulated real-world conditions.
Argonne currently makes Oleo Sponge in small quantities for research, using laboratory equipment. Argonne is interested to engage with commercial partners interested in large-scale manufacturing. Please contact partners@anl.gov for more information.
The Index Awards will be announced in a ceremony in Copenhagen on Sept. 6.
The original research to develop Oleo Sponge was funded by the U.S. Coast Guard and the Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement. The team used resources of the Center for Nanoscale Materials, a DOE Office of Science User Facility, in the development of the material.