celamb89
New member
A little something I ran into and thought I would share 
Swiss Firm Says Its Fabric Can Clean Up Oil Spill
AOL News
ZURICH (June 21) -- A Swiss company, working with German partners, has developed a fabric that it says can be rolled out onto the vulnerable beaches of the Gulf of Mexico to help limit the environmental damage of the BP oil spill.
As U.S. authorities and officials at BP consider how to minimize the impact of the oil still flowing from the damaged Deepwater Horizon well, they are taking a closer look at a specially designed material developed by HeiQ Materials, a high-tech textile effects company based in Bad Zurzach, northern Switzerland. The company says its product, dubbed "Oilguard," developed with the TWE Group in Germany, is slated for testing in the Gulf of Mexico over the next few weeks as part of the efforts to clean up after the oil spill.
A new fabric developed by Swiss and German companies absorbs oil and repels water
HeiQ Materials AG
Swiss company HeiQ Materials claims a new fabric called "Oilguard" that it developed with German partners absorbs oil and repels water -- a powerful tool, the company says, for protecting and cleaning up oil-strewn beaches in the Gulf of Mexico.
The fabric, a nonwoven kind of fleece treated with a chemical compound, selectively absorbs oil while repelling water at the same time. In their Swiss lab, company representatives demonstrated on Swiss television how the product can soak the oil out of saltwater and even protect sand from the deposit of oil through wave action.
As they await a final go-ahead from U.S. authorities, HeiQ representatives explained how the vast impact of the oil spill was the "driving force" behind the development of the cutting-edge technology.
"We've developed this product with the idea that it can be deployed on beaches to protect them from oil pollution," said Kristofer Skantze, a representative of the Swiss company. "The nonwoven fabric absorbs the oil and then it can be easily rolled up and disposed of in an incineration plant."
With its German partner, HeiQ is developing Oilguard sheets up to 6 yards wide and hundreds of yards long, which can be quickly unfolded on affected shorelines. Skantze said the two companies have the capacity to churn out enough of their product every day to protect up to 20 miles of beaches.
He declined to say how much the fabric costs and would only say it would be "significantly lower" than to clean an oil-polluted beach. "Our aim is to help them get back to normal life as soon as possible," he added. Skantze said the trials in the U.S. will be carried out shortly.
Thousands of gallons of crude oil have been spewing into the ocean every day for two months, hurting businesses, wildlife and the ecosystems of the gulf. The oil leak began on April 20, when the BP-operated Deepwater Horizon drilling rig exploded, causing what has since became the largest offshore spill in U.S. history. Several containment measures have been put in place, and BP officials have announced a $20 billion fund to compensate victims of the oil spill.
Swiss Firm Says Its Fabric Can Clean Up Oil Spill
AOL News
ZURICH (June 21) -- A Swiss company, working with German partners, has developed a fabric that it says can be rolled out onto the vulnerable beaches of the Gulf of Mexico to help limit the environmental damage of the BP oil spill.
As U.S. authorities and officials at BP consider how to minimize the impact of the oil still flowing from the damaged Deepwater Horizon well, they are taking a closer look at a specially designed material developed by HeiQ Materials, a high-tech textile effects company based in Bad Zurzach, northern Switzerland. The company says its product, dubbed "Oilguard," developed with the TWE Group in Germany, is slated for testing in the Gulf of Mexico over the next few weeks as part of the efforts to clean up after the oil spill.
A new fabric developed by Swiss and German companies absorbs oil and repels water
HeiQ Materials AG
Swiss company HeiQ Materials claims a new fabric called "Oilguard" that it developed with German partners absorbs oil and repels water -- a powerful tool, the company says, for protecting and cleaning up oil-strewn beaches in the Gulf of Mexico.
The fabric, a nonwoven kind of fleece treated with a chemical compound, selectively absorbs oil while repelling water at the same time. In their Swiss lab, company representatives demonstrated on Swiss television how the product can soak the oil out of saltwater and even protect sand from the deposit of oil through wave action.
As they await a final go-ahead from U.S. authorities, HeiQ representatives explained how the vast impact of the oil spill was the "driving force" behind the development of the cutting-edge technology.
"We've developed this product with the idea that it can be deployed on beaches to protect them from oil pollution," said Kristofer Skantze, a representative of the Swiss company. "The nonwoven fabric absorbs the oil and then it can be easily rolled up and disposed of in an incineration plant."
With its German partner, HeiQ is developing Oilguard sheets up to 6 yards wide and hundreds of yards long, which can be quickly unfolded on affected shorelines. Skantze said the two companies have the capacity to churn out enough of their product every day to protect up to 20 miles of beaches.
He declined to say how much the fabric costs and would only say it would be "significantly lower" than to clean an oil-polluted beach. "Our aim is to help them get back to normal life as soon as possible," he added. Skantze said the trials in the U.S. will be carried out shortly.
Thousands of gallons of crude oil have been spewing into the ocean every day for two months, hurting businesses, wildlife and the ecosystems of the gulf. The oil leak began on April 20, when the BP-operated Deepwater Horizon drilling rig exploded, causing what has since became the largest offshore spill in U.S. history. Several containment measures have been put in place, and BP officials have announced a $20 billion fund to compensate victims of the oil spill.
