Researcher says chicken feathers may help in oil spill mitigation
Wednesday, June 9, 2010 - 14:03
in Physics & Chemistry
Researchers in the Department of Chemical Engineering at the University of Delaware have developed a method to mitigate oil spills using chicken feather fibers. Prof. Richard Wool has discovered that when the fibers are cut to an optimal size, surface tension forces drive them to form self-assembled percolating networks that attract and trap oil spilled on a water surface.