BP APPROVES TEST OF OCEAN THERAPY OIL SEPARATION DEVICE
British Petroleum has agreed to test Ocean Therapy Solutions’ centrifugal processing device that separates oil from the waters of the Gulf of Mexico. John Houghtaling, CEO, received word this afternoon after speaking with BP President Doug Suttles. Houghtaling partnered with movie star Kevin Costner and other local investors to promote the machines. Houghtaling and Costner formed Ocean Therapies in the wake of the Horizon oil spill in the Gulf.
"The machines are basically sophisticated centrifuge devices that can handle a huge volume of water and separate at unprecedented rates. They were developed from older centrifuge technology. Normal centrifuge machines are very slow and sensitive to different ratios of oil to water mixtures at intake," Houghtaling said. Costner has been funding a team of scientists for the last 15 years to develop a technology which could be used for massive oil spills.
British Petroleum viewed a demonstration of the device last Thursday afternoon.
The machines can be taken out into the spill area via barges, where they can separate the oil and water. The machines come in different sizes, the largest of which can clean water at a rate of 200 gallons per minute, more than 50 gallons faster than the well is leaking. One machine alone can clean up to 210,000 gallons of polluted water per day. Depending on the oil to water ratio, the machine has the ability to extract 2,000 barrels of oil a day from the Gulf. Once separation has occurred, the oil is stored in tanks. The water is then more than 99% clean of crude.