Environment
The magnetic soap that could clean up oil spills
British scientists devise a way to use magnetically charged cleaning solutions to make sticky clean-ups even easier
January 26, 2012
A magnet pulls metallic soap out of water. Is this the key to quicker cleanup after oil spills? Photo: Institute Laue-Langevin
British researchers have found a way to imbue soap with magnetic properties, which could have huge implications in the way we fight ecosystem-damaging oil spills. Here's why making the slippery stuff magnetic could be a game changer:
Soap helps clean up environmental disasters?
It does. Dispersants and "surfactants," the technical name for soap, are added to water along with other chemicals to help break up hazardous oil, such as during the 2010 Deepwater Horizon disaster in the Gulf of Mexico. But such procedures are not without their costs. These chemicals are themselves hazardous to the environment (though not to the degree of the oil they break up), and are painstakingly difficult to collect. They can do a lot of damage to sea life before they break down or get diluted.
What's the advantage of making soap magnetic?
It's simple: A detergent that you can move with magnets would be much easier to gather up and remove from the water. "The goal is to create a soap... that can then be picked up out of the environment," says Stephanie Pappas at Live Science, "not just rinsed away."
How did they do it?
Scientists from the University of Bristol added iron-rich salts to create "metallic centers within the soap particles," says Ted Thornhill at Britain's Daily Mail. After the solution was added to water in a test tube, a magnet was used to overpower both gravity and the surface tension of the water, levitating the iron-rich "scrubbing bubbles" so they could be removed.
Can this be applied to other things?
Yep. "Proving that magnetic soaps can be developed" was just the first step on the road to all kinds of new products, says lead researcher Julian Eastoe. "The magnetic soap probably won't be appearing on supermarket shelves anytime soon," says Rebecca Boyle at Popular Science, "but it's an interesting breakthrough" that could lead to everything from new water treatment methods to industrial cleaning products.
Sources: Daily Mail, Live Science, Popular Science, TG Daily
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Magnetic soap could clean up oil spills
23 January 2012
Green tech
Jacob Aron, technology reporter
(Image: KeystoneUSA-ZUMA/Rex Features)
A soap that responds to magnetic fields could be used to clean up oil spills without leaving behind detergents that can harm surrounding wildlife.
Researchers at the University of Bristol, UK dissolved iron particles in water that contained chlorine and bromine ions, materials which are commonly found in household products such as mouthwash or fabric cleaner. This created a metallic centre within the soap particles that could be influenced by a nearby magnetic field.
The team tried out their new soap by placing it in a test tube beneath layers of water and an oil-like substance. Using a magnet, they were able to overcome both gravity and surface tension to lift the soap through the layers and out of the tube.
This test shows that it is much easier to remove magnetic soaps from mixtures of other liquids, suggesting they could be used in response to environmental disasters such as oil spills, where concerns have been raised about the cleaning substances in use. A magnetic soap could easily be collected after cleaning, reducing the environmental impact.
Magnetic soaps could also have a range of industrial applications thanks to their ability to change properties such as electrical conductivity or melting point at will with a magnetic on/off switch. These properties are normally altered by adding an electric charge or changing the pH, temperature or pressure of the substance, meaning they can not be reversed.
Source: www.newscientist.com
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