Filed in archive New technology on June 25, 2010

Can Kevin Costner really save the Gulf?

© Deepwater Horizon Response

Who knew? Who would have guessed? While most of us know Kevin Costner as an actor, who knew he has spent more than a decade developing devices to clean up oil spills?. It would appear that Costner is working with his brother, who developed the technology, but they have been stymied for over a decade by an industry refusing to even test the devices for free.

The Gulf Coast Oil spill has changed all that. Today BP announced that their underwater trials with one of the oil/water separation devices worked so well that they have ordered another 32. Not only is that great news for those trying to cleanup the spill - and those suffering its impacts, but it is also great news for American invention and manufacturing. This kind of endorsement can only help encourage other oil industry executives to take the device and its capabilities seriously.

The device works by spinning oil contaminated water so fast that the oil and water separate. It is claimed that there is 99% oil recovery. The device can process 128,000 barrels of water a day. That is a lot of contaminated water and a lot of oil that is recovered just from one device.

Who knew?