(60di) Biocompatible Herding Surfactants for Fast Oil Spill Treatment over Various Ocean Temperatures

Oil spills can result in immediate and long-term detrimental effects on marine systems and aquatic life. In this study we develop an oil spill recovery technique called oil herding. Herder is an amphiphilic oil-collecting surfactant which is applied to spray around the oil spill areas and is able to retract oil slicks from a large thin layer to a small thick bulk. This herding procedure greatly simplifies further in-situ burning and the recycle process. The natural konjac glucomannan (KGM) was chosen to be functionalized as an oil herder material, which has the great advantage of nontoxicity, biocompatibility, and durability. Moreover, functionalized KGM is a non-ionic surfactant with no obvious Krafft temperature, which offers KGM surfactants the unique characteristic to retain surfactant ability at temperatures nearing 0 °C. It presents a new direction for efficient oil herders within low temperature water areas, especially for oil spills mitigation in Arctic waters, in the offshore process safety area.