
Israeli Scientists Engineer a Plant-Fiber Sponge That Soaks Up Oil Spills and Feeds the Bacteria That Devour Them
Scientists at Ben-Gurion University in southern Israel have engineered a high-tech sponge made from plant fibers that can both mop up an oil spill and feed the bacteria that feast on oil and break it down, the university announced on Sunday, September 6. The usual methods for tackling oil spills are to skim and soak up the black mess or to wait for nature’s microscopic cleaners to digest it. Oil-eating bacteria, however, work slowly in open water because they lack essential nutrients such as nitrogen and phosphorus.
In the past, scientists tried dumping liquid fertilizers into oil-slicked waters to feed the bacteria. While that helped accelerate cleanup, the fertilizer quickly diluted into ocean currents, lost its effectiveness, and sometimes caused unintended environmental consequences, such as triggering massive algae blooms. The new research, led by Prof. Ariel Kushmaro and headed by Dr. Danit Lisa Karsagi Biron in the university’s Environmental Biotechnology Laboratory, combines physical strength with sped-up biology.
The team created a spongy material from cellulose fibers enriched with nutrients, then freeze-dried and baked it at high heat to produce a porous aerogel that acts like an ultra-light sponge. It repels water while locking onto petroleum compounds, and it can absorb roughly 100 times its own mass in crude oil or fuel in just seconds. Once the oil is trapped, the nutrients baked into the fibers give local oil-degrading bacteria a platform on which to colonize and consume the pollutants, turning a cleanup tool into a living cleanup crew. (TOI/VFI News)
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