Thu Jul 17 21:43 GMT 2008

A product that claims to clean up hazardous oil spills from ships and retrieve the oil for re-use in the future has received US Environmental Protection Agency (US EPA) recognition.

The Maximum Oil Pickup (MOP) Cannon, an invention from New Hampshire company MOP Environmental Solutions, Inc., has been successfully tested by Environment Canada on heavy crude oil.  It can be deployed within seconds of an oil spill at sea, picking up 30 times its own weight in crude oil, a company spokesperson said.

Recognition by the EPA means MOP can provide on-scene oil spill coordinators.

"If you have a cargo ship, accidents, unfortunately, can happen.  Instead of having to delay the clean-up, the MOP system can be deployed almost immediately from the back of a ship," Tim Crowley, spokesperson for MOP, told Sustainable Shipping today.

"It travels at 125mph (miles per hour) and goes 60 feet, instantly mopping up the spill, reducing the environmental damage and any future oil spill cost implications."

In cases like the Cosco Busan that leaked some 220 metric tonnes (mt) of intermediate fuel oil (IFO), after it clipped the base of San Francisco 's Bay Bridge , the MOP system could have sped up the process and avoided environmental damage, added Crowley .

"Imagine then being able to recover that oil, for future use, especially considering the high price of oil today," Crowley noted.

The recent drive to speed up the response time to oil spills was highlighted last month when Senator Carole Migden authored a bill to reduce the response time to an oil spill in San Francisco Bay from six to two hours.

A number of companies have since come forward with products to help contain oil spills, including the Ontario-based environmental protection company, Murrenhil Corporation, makers of the Rapid Oil Containment system (ROC), a product they describe as "the world’s fastest response oil containment system".

"There's plenty of competition out there," said Crowley . "It's about letting shipping companies know what's available, and that if they invest now rather than leave it until an accident happens, they can save themselves a lot in the long run."

Natalie Bruckner-Menchelli | Thu Jul 17 21:43 GMT 2008

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