Oil Recovery and Water Testing
Starting with the BP Gulf of Mexico Deepwater Horizon oil-spill crisis in 2010, our AquaFlex® patented, oil recovery products have been deployed in more than 60 major water disasters around the globe.
AquaFlex has several distinct advantages over traditional oil-spill, sorbent pads and floating booms. The polypropylene products have several limitations such as the need for calm seas. Waves, harbor-chop or currents can carry oil over and under traditional booms. These older technologies also have limited absorption capacity and are typically single-use. When they get “oiled” they can no longer absorb, and they soak up vast amounts of water with the oil, which makes them unnecessarily heavy and causes them to sink in the water. This increases the cost of disposal, as most landfills charge by the pound and are reluctant to accept toxic substances.
Our AquaFlex Oil Recovery solutions are not only different but game changing.
The AquaFlex Open-Cell foam does not absorb water. It absorbs oil and chemicals into the Open-Cell capillary network while repelling water thereby allowing water to pass through. The buoyant foam material is 70-percent lighter than conventional booms. Less than 12 feet of AquaFlex Open-Cell foam can absorb/detect more than 60 pounds of oil. Unlike conventional sorbents, even at full saturation with oil and chemicals AquaFlex products will not sink.
Oil can be wrung out of the AquaFlex Open-Cell foam, where it can be collected and sent to refineries for reuse. After the wringing process, the AquaFlex foam can be redeployed, and it can be reused up to 100 times. After extensive reuse, the bio-degradable foam can be safely disposed of.