The Secret to Oil Spill Cleanup Could Live in Peanut Butter Jars and Chocolate Milkshakes
Two ingredients commonly found in jars of peanut butter, chocolate smoothies, ice cream, and other tasty food products could soon find a new line of work: Cleaning up oil spills.
Researchers at the University of Southern Mississippi say that lecithin, an ingredient used in non-stick cooking sprays and many food products and cellulose, a compound derived from plants’ cell walls that can give ice cream and smoothies a thicker texture, can be used to create an oil dispersant that’s safer and more effective than petroleum-based products that are currently used.
According to Lisa Kemp, the researcher responsible for taking the product to market, the university’s dispersant, when spread over an oil spill, would allow birds and other animals to simply shake off oil, meaning cleanup crews won’t have to manually scrub wildlife.
Current dispersants work by transferring oil from the water’s surface into the water column, which can wreak havoc on life underwater. The university’s dispersant would break up oil, but would keep it afloat so that cleanup crews could mechanically remove it.