subject: Keven Costner Helps Battle Oil Spill in Gulf of Mexico [print this page] Keven Costner Helps Battle Oil Spill in Gulf of Mexico
Gulf of Mexico there's no need to fear, Kevin Costner and Super Skimmer are here! Kevin Costner the half man - half fish star of Waterworld, became involved with oil spills after watching the devastation the Exxon Valdez caused when it hit a reef and spilled over 10 million gallons of crude oil into the Alaskan sound on March 24, 1989. Since then Costner started his own company and funded engineers and scientists to develop centrifuges that can separate oil from water.
Costner patented this technology that could now be helpful in cleaning up the Gulf. The largest device Costner created, the V20, is able to clean the water at a rate of 200,000 gallons per day, which after a successful test, the remaining water was 99 percent clean of crude. There are currently 3 of the V20 centrifuges operational in the Gulf and BP has ordered 32 centrifuges from Ocean Therapy Solutions, the company co-founded by Costner.
Meanwhile, the Super Skimmer, a transformed oil spill tanker owned by TMT shipping of Taiwan and named "A Whale" has been sitting in the Gulf since July 1st. It is hopeful this super skimmer, at 1,100 feet long and 10 stories high, will be able to collect 21 million gallons of impure water per day as it enters through openings on the sides of the ship. The oily water will be transferred through a sequence of tanks that separate the oil and water, putting the oil in barrels onto another ship and pouring the water back into the sea.
Although tests were performed in Portugal where the oil spill tanker was transformed, rough seas and winds have detained testing of the skimmer in the Gulf. A spokesman for TMT shipping said the company and the U.S. Coast Guard plan to continue testing the ship "to make operational and technological adjustments aimed at improved skimming effectiveness given the actual conditions we are encountering in the Gulf." The Super Skimmer and Kevin Costner's centrifuges will add to the fleet of 500 that have already skimmed almost 25,000,000 gallons of the impure water from the sea since the rig exploded on April 20th.
