4.Magnetic separation method for oil spill cleanup
Oil spills have devastating environmental consequences as evident from the 2010 Deepwater Horizon disaster in the Gulf of Mexico. This work describes a new five-step magnetic separation process for oil spill cleanup that maximizes oil recovery: 1. Pump a sea water and oil spill mixture out of the ocean and onto a boat or land oil/water treatment facility. 2. Add oleophilic/hydrophobic (oil loving/water hating) or hydrophilic/oleophobic (water loving, oil hating) magnetic nanoparticles to the oil/water mixture on the boat. The magnetic nanoparticles will preferentially attach to the oil or water phase, respectively, making it magnetic. 3. Use an optimized array of permanent magnets to cleanly separate the magnetic