美国国家公共电台 NPR Researchers Test Hotter, Faster And Cleaner Way To Fight Oil Spills

 

AUDIE CORNISH, HOST:

The BP disaster in the Gulf¹ of Mexico seven years ago showed just how hard it is to combat a massive oil spill. Cleaning oil from water is a challenge, especially on the open sea. Now the federal government is backing research on a new method to burn oil off of the water. NPR's Debbie Elliott watched the first test outside the laboratory.

DEBBIE ELLIOTT, BYLINE²: This is what the scientists call a relevant environment - a cold and windy day in Mobile Bay. Researchers from WPI, Worcester Polytechnic³ Institute in Massachusetts, have come here to Little Sand Island off the Alabama coast to test a new technology for burning oil floating on water.

UNIDENTIFIED MAN: So let's all start getting ready to light a fire.

ELLIOTT: Lighting⁵ it on fire is one of three ways to clean up an oil spill. You can use skimmers and oil booms to soak it up, dispersants to break it up or fire to burn it up. Fire protection engineering professor Ali Rangwala leads the WPI team that's testing what they call the Flame Refluxer, a faster way to burn an oil slick.

ALI RANGWALA: It's very simple.

ELLIOTT: He shows me a copper⁶ blanket.

RANGWALA: Two meshes⁷ of copper, and in between that is copper wool.

ELLIOTT: Imagine a giant Brillo pad sandwiched between layers of copper screen. Springy copper coils are attached to the top.

RANGWALA: The coils collect the heat from the flame, and they transmit it to the copper blanket.

ELLIOTT: The goal is to make a hotter, faster and more complete burn that leaves less pollution. Workers place the blanket inside a ring of floating fire barrier in a concrete pool, part of the U.S. Coast Guard's joint⁸ maritime⁹ test facility on the island. Oil is pumped from a nearby tank, and a long, torch-like lighter¹⁰ sets it afire. The flames reach up to 12 feet high. Professor Rangwala monitors by video nearby.

RANGWALA: Very good. It's looking very good.

ELLIOTT: Engineers are tracking the fire's heat and emissions¹¹ being captured by a strategically placed wind saw.

RANGWALA: What does the fume¹² level look like? Is it regressing, or is it constant underwater?

ELLIOTT: The potential here is to reduce both air pollution and the layer of tar⁴ that's left over and sinks to the ocean floor threatening marine¹³ life. Rangwala says the copper blanket was designed to capture any remaining residue¹⁴. But they're finding that the tar is burning off as well. He says the test indicates a hotter, quicker and cleaner burn.

RANGWALA: It guarantees about three times faster than baseline. And the smoke is also grayish in color compared to black.

ELLIOTT: That gray smoke with less soot¹⁵ is one of the things that Karen Stone is looking for.

KAREN STONE: So the lighter it is, the cleaner it is.

ELLIOTT: Stone is an oil spill response engineer with BSEE, the Federal Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement. The agency has invested $1.5 million to develop the Flame Refluxer and is also paying for other new technology. It's an effort to be better prepared to respond since the 2010 BP disaster in the Gulf revealed some major gaps. For example, the country didn't have enough fire boom on hand and had to scramble¹⁶ to borrow supply from other countries.

STONE: Once you have a spill, it really gets the attention, and we realize, wow, we really need to advance it and make it better, improve it for when it happens again.

ELLIOTT: Stone says the technology that's working here in the Gulf environment also shows promise for responding to oil spills in the Arctic, but it's likely five to 10 years from being used in an actual disaster. The next step is finding the best way to deploy¹⁷ and test it in open water. Debbie Elliott, NPR News, Mobile.

1 gulf   

n.海湾；深渊，鸿沟；分歧，隔阂

参考例句：

• The gulf between the two leaders cannot be bridged.两位领导人之间的鸿沟难以跨越。
• There is a gulf between the two cities.这两座城市间有个海湾。

2 byline   

n.署名；v.署名

参考例句：

• His byline was absent as well.他的署名也不见了。
• We wish to thank the author of this article which carries no byline.我们要感谢这篇文章的那位没有署名的作者。

3 polytechnic   

adj.各种工艺的，综合技术的；n.工艺(专科)学校；理工(专科)学校

参考例句：

• She was trained as a teacher at Manchester Polytechnic.她在曼彻斯特工艺专科学校就读，准备毕业后做老师。
• When he was 17,Einstein entered the Polytechnic Zurich,Switzerland,where he studied mathematics and physics.17岁时，爱因斯坦进入了瑞士苏黎士的专科学院，学习数学和物理学。

4 tar   

n.柏油，焦油；vt.涂或浇柏油/焦油于

参考例句：

• The roof was covered with tar.屋顶涂抹了一层沥青。
• We use tar to make roads.我们用沥青铺路。

5 lighting   

n.照明，光线的明暗，舞台灯光

参考例句：

• The gas lamp gradually lost ground to electric lighting.煤气灯逐渐为电灯所代替。
• The lighting in that restaurant is soft and romantic.那个餐馆照明柔和而且浪漫。

6 copper   

n.铜；铜币；铜器；adj.铜(制)的；(紫)铜色的

参考例句：

• The students are asked to prove the purity of copper.要求学生们检验铜的纯度。
• Copper is a good medium for the conduction of heat and electricity.铜是热和电的良导体。

7 meshes   

网孔( mesh的名词复数 )； 网状物； 陷阱； 困境

参考例句：

• The net of Heaven has large meshes, but it lets nothing through. 天网恢恢，疏而不漏。
• This net has half-inch meshes. 这个网有半英寸见方的网孔。

8 joint   

adj.联合的，共同的；n.关节，接合处；v.连接，贴合

参考例句：

• I had a bad fall,which put my shoulder out of joint.我重重地摔了一跤，肩膀脫臼了。
• We wrote a letter in joint names.我们联名写了封信。

9 maritime   

adj.海的，海事的，航海的，近海的，沿海的

参考例句：

• Many maritime people are fishermen.许多居于海滨的人是渔夫。
• The temperature change in winter is less in maritime areas.冬季沿海的温差较小。

10 lighter   

n.打火机，点火器；驳船；v.用驳船运送；light的比较级

参考例句：

• The portrait was touched up so as to make it lighter.这张画经过润色，色调明朗了一些。
• The lighter works off the car battery.引燃器利用汽车蓄电池打火。

11 emissions   

排放物( emission的名词复数 )； 散发物（尤指气体）

参考例句：

• Most scientists accept that climate change is linked to carbon emissions. 大多数科学家都相信气候变化与排放的含碳气体有关。
• Dangerous emissions radiate from plutonium. 危险的辐射物从钚放散出来。

12 fume   

n.(usu pl.)(浓烈或难闻的)烟，气，汽

参考例句：

• The pressure of fume in chimney increases slowly from top to bottom.烟道内压力自上而下逐渐增加，底层住户的排烟最为不利。
• Your harsh words put her in a fume.你那些难听的话使她生气了。

13 marine   

adj.海的；海生的；航海的；海事的；n.水兵

参考例句：

• Marine creatures are those which live in the sea. 海洋生物是生存在海里的生物。
• When the war broke out,he volunteered for the Marine Corps.战争爆发时，他自愿参加了海军陆战队。

14 residue   

n.残余，剩余，残渣

参考例句：

• Mary scraped the residue of food from the plates before putting them under water.玛丽在把盘子放入水之前先刮去上面的食物残渣。
• Pesticide persistence beyond the critical period for control leads to residue problems.农药一旦超过控制的临界期，就会导致残留问题。

15 soot   

n.煤烟，烟尘；vt.熏以煤烟

参考例句：

• Soot is the product of the imperfect combustion of fuel.煤烟是燃料不完全燃烧的产物。
• The chimney was choked with soot.烟囱被煤灰堵塞了。

16 scramble   

v.爬行，攀爬，杂乱蔓延，碎片，片段，废料

参考例句：

• He broke his leg in his scramble down the wall.他爬墙摔断了腿。
• It was a long scramble to the top of the hill.到山顶须要爬登一段长路。

17 deploy   

v.（军）散开成战斗队形，布置，展开

参考例句：

• The infantry began to deploy at dawn.步兵黎明时开始进入战斗位置。
• The president said he had no intention of deploying ground troops.总统称并不打算部署地面部队。