New improved Post of oil plume remediation/ CO2 sequestering/Burn baby burn

Solution to oil column danger

Crude is difficult to burn off at the surface. Like an oil-fired furnace, oil must be atomized into air and ignited.

This wellhead lamp proposal is to burn the oil at depth; foam the oil cloud with air and strike a match, all at almost a mile under sea.

The solution will test the sequestering of CO2 in the ocean.

Here’s how to Get Rid of Crude Oil for Dummies- Clean the spill by lighting a lamp for the tempest-tossed.

While experts try putting their fingers in the dike, or spreading Brawny paper towels all over the Gulf of Mexico, a third solution flickers – lighting an ancient Roman oil lamp. Step one/Article one – long fire-proof hoses with millions of holes in the mesh. Use the material for  Indy driver’s fire proof suits – Its called Nomex. It won’t burn even with high temperature burning near its surface.

Step two – air will be brought to the oil volcano, in other words, to the base of the Nomex hoses, which then bubble air up their length. The quantity of air would be delivered at 2500psi [water pressure at the briny depths of the well head.]  Actual aeration would be at some depth less than the wellhead for practical reasons.

How is air delivered at sufficient quantities and pressures? An air compressor chain uses the outlet of a first compressor to feed a second compressor and so on, raising the pressure at each step. As air is compressed, the heated air would be cooled with heat exchangers between each link of the chain.

Finally, step three, NASA’s match.

Ever wonder how the Space Shuttle’s engines get lit? In engineering terms, BFM – big friggin’ matches. Truly. Watch some Youtube video of a launch and you see the pyrotechnics. You could light a billion candles or one of Rush Limbaugh’s Fuente Opus X’s.

Warning: Metaphor alert

Sort of gives the Gulf a nice warm Weber kettle glow. Mix in some Zatarain’s and the Gulf will fill with Bubba Gump Jambalaya. The Gulf may fizz like Champagne.

Seriously, it would take time to bring the compressor chain online [practical way to achieve volume and pressure.] Tests could be done with air tanks at 2500psi with NASA’s match attached. An optimal depth needs to be tested. Several designs would need to be tested for the aeration hose separation. IF meteorologists can track hurricanes 200 miles across, tracking the oil column [which should show up as a fluid with a different density] should be doable.

The Roman lamp solution developed above brings with it the idea of portability. Nothing in the design prohibits the outfitting of Roman lamp ships to rid the ocean of oil at any depth and any distance from the well.

Patent pending

Bob Polys

Edwardsville, Kansas