Revolutionary oil skimmer wins X Prize

NPR : A new, more efficient technique for skimming spilled oil from the surface of water has won a challenge posed by the X Prize Foundation, reports Jacob McCleland for NPR. Elastec/American Marine was awarded $1 million for its oil skimmer, which operates on the simple principle that oil is attracted to plastic. The truck-sized device consists of 64 grooved plastic disks arranged in rows, with a scraper along the top. When it’s submerged in oil and water, the disks are turned and the oil adheres to their grooved surface. The oil is then scraped off and flows into a trough that separates it from the water. The X Prize Foundation organizes privately funded competitions to spur technological advancement; in this case, the foundation challenged companies to design a skimmer that removed oil at more than twice the industry standard rate, which had not changed for the past 20 years. Elastec succeeded in removing oil at nearly four times the standard rate.