Oil Spill Clean-up with New Technology

March 24, 2015

The 2014 oil spill in Evrona Nature Preserve in the Arava Desert In one of the worst environmental disasters in Israel’s history, between three and five million liters [.8 to 1.3 million US gal] of raw crude oil gushed from a burst pipeline near the Evrona Nature Reserve in the Arava Desert last year.

In the chaotic days that followed, nature authorities employed many methods in the desperate race to contain the four-mile [6.5 km] river of toxic oil. This emergency also provided an unexpected opportunity for Israeli innovators to test their solutions for treating contaminated soil, and results have been encouraging.

Prof. Yoel Sasson tells ISRAEL21c that he and Dr. Uri Stoin from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem set up a pilot trial to test their breakthrough technology for treating contaminated soil.

Sasson and Stoin’s chemical reagent spray quickly decomposes hydrocarbon molecules from the oil into carbon dioxide and water, which are safe in nature and sewage systems.

Sasson explains that six years ago, he and Stoin were focusing on a solution for detoxifying flue emissions from coal power plants. To continue reading article, click here.

Source: By Abigail Klein Leichman, ISRAEL21c

Photo Credit: Noam Weiss/wikipedia.org