Finally, a promising way to clean up the oil spill

The shovels and bags are nice, but a nonwoven cotton absorbent wipe would be much better at cleaning up the oily mess as it can absorb 15 times its weight. The environmentally friendly material is called Fibertect®.

It can wipe away oil and absorb the toxic vapors in the air.

Seshadri Ramkumar, an associate professor of nonwoven technologies at Texas Tech said in a statement:

“It definitely has proven itself a perfect product for cleaning up the oil spill,” Ramkumar said. “This preliminary test in Louisiana has shown that our wipe material is unique from others in that it easily absorbs liquids, and it has vapor-holding capacity. This will help workers clean beaches and stay safe at the same time.”

Originally developed to protect the U.S. military from chemical and biological warfare agents, this raw cotton and carbon material has already been approved by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. When researchers tested it on the shores of Louisiana, it passed the test.

Watch the video to find out how Fibertect® works:

This post was originally published on Smartplanet.com