Nanopaper cleans up oil spills
This new type of paper, looks, feels, and works like normal paper except for one very important characteristic. It can soak up oil spills, and like Bounty paper towels, it is reusable. That’s right just boil it and toss back on that oil slick.
As with other specialty papers, like RealPaper, Nanopaper is composed of more than just wood pulp. Although Nanopaper can fulfill all of the functions of normal paper, it contains nanowires that soak up 20 times its weight in oil. The nanowires trap the oil in the tiny spaces between the wires and doesn’t release it until boiled.
Not only that, but unlike regular paper, Nanopaper has been specially treated so that it does not absorb water at all and it will float for months soaking up more and more oil. When the paper has absorbed as much oil as it can hold, the specialty paper is collected and boiled to remove the oil then is thrown back in to collect more oil.
Except for the special chemical vapor treatment used to coat the paper, chemicals are not needed. Just the paper.
Finally something that oil companies can use to clean those hard to get to areas from unfortunate spills. And since it is reusable, companies should love it since it will cut down on the cost of clean up. Clean up that might take ten years of litigation to finally occur, but clean up none the less.
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