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AssigneeThe Trustees of the Stevens Institute of Technology
InventorsEui-Hyeok Yang, Ronald Besser, Jian Xu, Wei Xu, Brendan Englot, Chang-Hwan Choi
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Smart membranes are integrated into a small, unmanned surface vessel to enable the efficient, automated cleanup of oil spills. Such a vessel has the potential to provide a low-cost, modular solution for day-to-day oil-spill cleanup operations, especially in confined aquatic areas (e.g., under piers or in the small spaces between marine vessels and piers). The membranes are provided on the surface of a conveyor belt that circulates the membranes through the surrounding body of water for oil collection, as well as through an internal reduction chamber of the vessel for oil release. The smart membranes are adapted to attract and repel oil in response to low-voltage commands applied across the conveyor belt, using a process that is repeatable for a number of cycles, offering high efficiency and long durability. Segments of the conveyor belt can be electrically isolated from one another to allow disparate electrical potentials to be imposed thereon.
A membrane adapted for use as an oil-collection agent, said membrane comprising an exposed surface which includes a conjugated polymer that is capable of functioning to collect oil on said exposed surface when said conjugated polymer is oxidized and that is capable of functioning to release oil from said exposed surface when said conjugated polymer is reduced.
An oil-collection apparatus, comprising a segmented belt having a plurality of segments, at least some of which segments are electrically conductive such that each of said electrically conductive segments is oxidizable and reducible, and wherein each of said electrically conductive segments includes a membrane having a tunable oil wettability characteristic.
In combination:
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.