Surely it will have happened to you, if you have ever found yourself walking along the quay of a port, to notice iridescent reflections on the surface of the water, similar to oil patches.
These iridescent could come from spills of oils and hydrocarbons coming from the boats. These are also accidental losses, which occur during operations, such as refueling, maintenance of engines and cleaning the so -called sensor water, where liquids mixed with oils and fuels accumulate on the bottom of the hull.
To deal with this environmental problem, a spongeto be used in ports and boarding boats for absorb a significant part of these contaminating liquids, without holding the water.
In this article, we see the technology behind this sponge and we see where it has already been used.
The polyutesty expanded cells open: what it is and how it is
Let’s start immediately by saying that 1 kg of this sponge is able to absorb up to 6000 kg of oils during its life cycle and can be used up to a total of 200 times.
This sponge, whose technical name is Foam flexwas patented in 2014 by the Italian company T1 Solutions.
But what are the Main features Of this material? It is polyurethane foama polymer that presents one open cell structure.
As you can see in the photo, the expanded polyurethane is characterized by a spongy structurewith small “cells” interconnected with each other. Clearly, this structure gives the sponge one Soft and flexible consistency.
But at this point one could ask yourself: but how it is possible that the sponge absorb oils and hydrocarbons in large quantities, But without holding the water?
The difference lies in the chemical formulation of the polyurethane, developed specifically for this purpose, which constitutes the patent.
What does this particular formulation consist of? As we have seen, polyurethane is a polymera long chain of molecules that repeat themselves (Poly-Meros: many units). Within this structure, specific have been selected co -olimersthat is, the repetitive units that make up the polymer chains.
These specific copolimers give the material the characteristic of having one strong anity with oilswhile maintaining a remarkable water repulsion.
What happens to the oils once they have been absorbed by the sponge?
These sponges can have a positive environmental impact, because, collected oils, they can be squeezed To recover the liquid, which can then be conferred in the dedicated collection.
It should also be added that these do not release harmful substances in the environment, since the patented material with open cells is resistant and does not break in the waterin fact they received the approval from the Ministry of the Environment for their use at sea.
But are these sponges already used in port structures?
A significant example comes from Fuerteventurawhere in 2018 a spill of about 150 tons of mixed oils. In this situation, the use of 70 kg of Foamflex and 2 manual stripers allowed rapid cleaning and buddy in a few days, recovering between 50 and 70% of the spilled.
In different Italian ports An initiative dedicated to this problem is provided, the Q8 Sailing for Change. In fact, Q8, with the scientific collaboration of LifeGate, has already reached 20 Italian ports – and another 20 will be reached by 2025 – Delivering specific kits with Foamflex sponges to absorb the accidental spills of hydrocarbons at sea.
