Hernando, MS—
FAST FACTS:
- Commercial oil separator can clean 1.2 million gal. daily
- Manufactured by Hernando Company
- Hoping to help clean gulf waters
dennis.turner@wreg.com
(Hernando, MS 5/18/2010) A MidSouth company says it may have the solution to cleaning up that huge Gulf of Mexico oil spill.
It makes a device that separates oil and water and it's anxious to try it out on that huge BP spill.
The Device, made in DeSoto County, has been around for more than fifteen years.
Now, its makers are headed to the gulf coast to give it perhaps its toughest test yet.
Larry Matthews says he's got the solution to that huge oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico.
His company makes the "Hydrasep", a commercial device that naturally separates oil from water so efficiently, you can reuse it.
"We can process 1.2 million gallons of seawater every 24 hours. We can get the oil recovered. We can help do something," said Matthews.
It works off a simple principle of physics.
Since oil is lighter than water, it naturally travels up the walls of a grid as water runs across them.
"Run contaminated water through it, the oil is strained and captured and can be piped off. The water here separates, leaves 99.4% pure," Matthews explained.
And in almost all cases, it's drinkable.
Hydrasep says its solution is better than anything BP's doing by using a pipe just a few inches wide to siphon off a leak several times bigger.
Matthews says a barge, or several barges, full of huge Hydrasep devices could, in time, clean up the hundreds of thousands of gallons of oil in the sea, without the need for chemical dispersants which could harm sea life.
So far, he's had no luck getting BP's attention, but is starting to get notice from the State of Mississippi.
"There's time for blame later on, let's fix the problem." said Matthews.
And he intends to do just that.
Matthews is headed to the gulf coast Tuesday to convince officials in charge of cleanup and beach protection that his device could the easy, and low-cost answer they're looking for to save the coast beaches, sea life and tourism.
