March 31, 2011\u2014Scientists are perfecting a naturally based substance that will act like a laundry detergent in oil spills to prevent the oil from sticking to bird feathers. The substance is currently in the testing phase, which is funded by the National Science Foundation.
", "is_us_only": "false", "title": "Substance to Stop Oil From Sticking to Birds?", "url": "http://video.nationalgeographic.com/video/news/environment-news/nsf-oil-feathers-vin/", "country_code_deny_list": [], "allowUserEmbed": "True", "related": { "link": [ { "url": "http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/gulf-oil-spill-news/", "name": "Gulf Oil Spill News, Pictures, and Video" }, { "url": "http://video.nationalgeographic.com/video/player/news/animals-news/nsf-oil-citizen-scientist-vin.html", "name": "Video: Tracking Birds in the BP-Spill Zone" } ] }, "credit": " 2011 National Geographic; partially funded by NSF; field producing and videography by Fritz Faerber", "smil": "http://video.nationalgeographic.com/video/player/data/xml/nsf-oil-feathers-vin.smil", "country_code_allow_list": [], "HTML5src": "/video/player/media-mp4/nsf-oil-feathers-vin/mp4/variant-playlist.m3u8", "still": "http://video.nationalgeographic.com/exposure/transcode/0/615/346/?url=http://video.nationalgeographic.com/video/player/media/nsf-oil-feathers-vin/nsf-oil-feathers-vin_480x360.jpg", "transcript": "Unedited Transcript:
A BIRD\u2019S FEATHERS ENABLE IT TO FLY, FLOAT, AND REGULATE ITS BODY TEMPERATURE.
UNFORTUNATELY, FEATHERS ALSO ABSORB OIL, TAKING AWAY THESE CRUCIAL ABILITIES.
IMAGES LIKE THESE HAVE COME TO REPRESENT THE ENVIRONMENTAL TOLL OF OIL SPILLS, LIKE the Deepwater Horizon disaster that dumped nearly 5 million barrels into the Gulf of Mexico.
FOLLOWING THAT SPILL, RESPONDERS contained surface oil using booms, and tried to break the oil up using chemical dispersants. For the first time ever, dispersants were used deep in the ocean, near the leak\u2019s source, as well as on the surface.
STEVE MURAWSKI LED THE government\u2019s efforts to determine the effects of the gulf spill, and the methods used to contain it.
SOUNDBITE: Steve Murawski, Head, Joint Analysis Group, Deepwater Horizon spill
\u201cThe use of deepwater dispersants was an experiment. It\u2019s hard to say that but it\u2019s exactly what it was. Obviously, this is a question of environmental tradeoff. Do you fight the oil on the surface and at the beach or do you fight it in the deep sea.\u201d
THAT GOT BOB LOCHHEAD AND HIS COLLEAGUES AT THE UNIVERSITY OF SOUTHERN MISSISSIPPI THINKING\u2026WHAT IF THERE WAS A WAY TO BREAK THE OIL DOWN AND KEEP IT FROM STICKING, ALL WHILE BEING ENVIRONMENTALLY FRIENDLY?
SOUNDBITE: ROBERT LOCHHEAD, PROFESSOR OF POLYMER SCIENCE, UNIVERSITY OF SOUTHERN MISSISSIPPI
\u201c\u2026And where this came from was when we saw the oil spill immediately we thought of how do laundry detergents work?
LAUNDRY DETERGENTS CONTAIN CHEMICAL COMPOUNDS THAT STOP DIRT FROM STICKING TO CLOTHES
SOUNDBITE: LOCHHEAD
\u201cAnd I thought could we use this same technology in the oil to stop the oil from sticking to things like bird feathers.\u201d
VOX: OIL STICKS TO ALL KINDS OF ORGANIC MATERIALS, INCLUDING FEATHERS AND HAIR. SO THE STANDARD METHODS OF PROTECTING WILDLIFE FROM A SPILL ARE TO TRY TO BLOCK THE OIL FROM REACHING SENSITIVE AREAS AND CLEAN THE ANIMALS THAT GET OILED.
BUT WHAT IF CHEMISTRY CAN KEEP THE OIL FROM STICKING IN THE FIRST PLACE?VOX: SO LOCHHEAD AND HIS RESEARCHERS WENT TO THE LAB LOOKING FOR A WAY TO COMPLEMENT THE STRATEGY OF USING DISPERSANTS TO BREAK UP THE OIL. VOX: BECAUSE OF THE URGENT NATURE OF THE SPILL, THE TEAM NEEDED ANSWERS QUICKLY\u2026SO THEY USED A SPECIALLY DESIGNED ROBOT THAT ALLOWED THEM TO TRY THOUSANDS OF COMPOSITIONS DAILY
LOCHHEAD BITE:
\u201cSee the problem you\u2019ve got with these systems\u2026you\u2019re looking for a needle in a haystack\u2026you may have to screen thousands and thousands of compositions before you find one that works//the problem is we had only months to do this. You can\u2019t wait 20 years while the oil is moving around//the way we were able to do this//that robot cab make about 10,000 compositions a day, whereas a normal formulator in a lab does about 10 a day.\u201d
THE TEAM STARTED WITH CHEMICAL COMPOUNDS WIDELY USED IN DETERGENTS, AND IDENTIFIED OTHER CHEMICAL CONTENDERS. BUT NONE REALLY STUCK TO THE OIL.
THEN THEY TRIED SOY LECITHIN \u2013 WHICH IS USED IN EVERYTHING FROM CANDY TO COUGH MEDICINE.
EXPERIMENTS SHOWED THAT THE SOY LETHICIN COATS THE OIL DROPLETS, PREVENTING THEM FROM STICKING TO ANYTHING\u2026BUT STILL ALLOWS MICROBES IN\u2026ENSURING THAT THE OIL BREAKS DOWN.
VOX: IN THE LAB, THE RESEARCH TEAM PREPARES EMULSIONS OF OIL AND WATER. THE TEAM IS ALSO TESTING ABSORBANT MATERIAL THAT ACTS LIKE A GIANT PAPER TOWEL WHEN PULLED THROUGH A PLUME OF OIL \u2013 ABSORBING OIL, BUT NOT WATER.
NOW, THE RESEARCHERS ARE TRYING OUT THE UNIQUE MIXTURE IN THE LAB \u2013 A FEATHER DIPPED IN OIL AND SEAWATER IN A TANK\u2026
VOX: DIPPED IN UNTREATED OIL, THE FEATHER IS LIKE A SPONGE, SOAKING UP THE REDDISH OIL.
VOX: BUT IN THE TANK WITH OIL AND THE SUCCESSFUL ADDITIVES, THE FEATHER COMES OUT NEARLY CLEAN.
LOCHHEAD SAYS THE APPROACH NEEDS MORE DEVELOPMENT BUT HE\u2019S OPTIMISTIC THEY\u2019LL BE READY FOR THE NEXT BIG SPILL.
SOUNDBITE: Lochhead
\u201cWe\u2019re at proof of concept level. We\u2019ve proved that yes, this thing will work.\u00a0 What we need to do now is find the ideal mixture that works. To find how we put it together into a product. How that product will be stored and make sure it\u2019s got five-year shelf life and how it will be eventually put, hopefully on every rig and every tanker just like a fire extinguisher.\u201d
VOX: RESEARCHERS HOPE THEY WILL HAVE A PROTOTYPE READY IN A YEAR AND CLEAR REGULATORY HURDLES WITHIN ANOTHER YEAR. FOR THE WILDLIFE MOST THREATENED BY OIL SPILLS, A VIABLE PRODUCT CAN\u2019T COME TOO SOON.
", "id": "nsf-oil-feathers-vin" } }