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Targeting Oil Spills

A penguin drenched in oil. Stricken by devastating oil spills which are notoriously difficult to clean up, such birds are much imperiled because thick, toxic oil blinds their eyes and entirely coats their plumage, promptly immobilising them after contacting the oil.

Such images prompted environmental scientist, Professor Ku Halim Ku Hamid, to work on the seminal idea that Avian feathers have the propensity to soak up oil. Armed with the knowledge that using bioremediation, bacteria can be used to clean up waste, including consuming oil spills, the scientist and his team invented an award winning, ecological Bacteria Embedded Oil-Spill Absorber made of Avian feathers that could be an ideal tool for targeting oil spills.

The oil-spill absorber is made from Avian feathers, such as chicken, duck, goose, turkey or ostrich feathers which are ground to form a cellulosic mass. This mass of Avian feathers is then bound by a biodegradable binder and further impregnated with bacteria selected from the group consisting of hydrocarbon-consuming bacteria.