This innovative Oil Spilling Guard designed by Zhu Yi, Hu Tingting, Zhao Xiaoyang and Li Ran – is definitely going to revolutionize the clearing of oil spills, making the accident less disastrous for marine life and human beings as well. Oil spills, though not a frequent occurrence yet, have happened on a larger scale leading to adverse effects on the life beneath the ocean.
Since oil is not water soluble and is relatively denser than water, it spreads quickly to form a thin film on the surface of the sea – making it difficult for the aquatic life to receive adequate oxygen and sunlight to flourish. There is a huge amount of risk regarding oil spillage as 31.5 billion gallons of oil are transported via sea everyday. And not all oil spills are the result from tankers, as they could occur due to accidents within pipelines, vessels that clean tanks, oil wells and storage tanks. Let us take the recent example of the British Petroleum Oil rig explosion in 2010 in the Gulf of Mexico – unfortunately, this incident can be accounted as an ecological disaster as the explosion took place 5000 feet beneath the sea – affecting a huge expanse of area which led to the disruption of the marine ecosystem with long-term repercussions which could last decades altogether.
The Oil Spilling Guard would certainly prove to be a savior as it actually prevents the oil spillage from spreading on the surface of the sea and simultaneously carries out the filtering process of the oil by separating it from water. The extracted oil then gets stored in the device’s inbuilt tank and the best part about this Oil Spilling Guard is that, its outer structure is made out of fiber – making it eco-friendly! Furthermore, the device also transmits signals for alerting in case the birds and fish are in peril so that the officials can take measures to safeguard them. This innovative Oil Spilling Guard would certainly prove to be a powerful tool in containing widespread harm, as present-day techniques of clearing oil spills is relatively difficult and not effective.
Via: Yankodesign
