Illinois Team Wins Oil Spill Cleanup X CHALLENGE
With a more than threefold improvement in oil spill cleanup technology, Team Elastec of Carmi, Illinois, captures the $1 million top prize in the Wendy Schmidt Oil Cleanup X CHALLENGE.
In a competition born out of frustration of oil cleanup technology in last year's BP Gulf oil spill, Elastec/American Marine company of Carmi, Illinois, and Cocoa, Florida, deployed a system that slurped oil in the test tank at a rate of 4,670 gallons (17,677 liters) per minute, with an efficiency of 89.5 percent. (Only 10.5 percent of the oily mix in the recovery tanks was water.)
(See all the competitors and their technologies: "Pictures: X PRIZE Contest Seeks Improved Oil Spill Cleanup")
X PRIZE officials said the recovery rate was three times the industry standard, and in fact conventional systems tested in the facility where the competition took place typically achieve 900 gallons (3,400 liters) per
