Ideas to clean up the Gulf and make a profit
There are a lot of deep sea oil drilling platforms off the Gulf Coast some of them have been abandoned so why not take the abandoned oil platforms that nobody is using move them all to New Orleans put some windmills on them to provide power and then use that power to pump air down the pipes that used to bring up the oil from the ocean?
Why pump air to the ocean’s bottom? Well because at the bottom of the ocean a lack of oxygen slows algae, plant, bacteria and thus fish growth if we increase the growth of plants and bacteria including oil eating bacteria by adding oxygen we can clean the ocean up quicker than letting nature take its course.
We can help provide more food for fish which since almost nobody will eat Gulf Fish now this lull in fishing will give fish populations in the Gulf years maybe decades to grow resulting in much bigger fish harvests when we do start fishing again. The extra Oxygen could quite possibly help coral reef development. Coral Reefs act as barriers to big waves and provide a place for fish to live thus further increasing fish populations
Inversion is the natural cleansing process of a pond or lake.
The inversion process naturally takes place every spring and fall. When the colder surface water is heavier than the warmer bottom water, it sinks to the bottom and pushes the bottom water to the surface. This is nature’s own way of providing oxygen to the water on the bottom. This short term oxygenating process removes the toxic gases.
54. “Nutrients and organic matter build up in the pond, creating too much organic material to be broken down biologically, with natural inversion occurring only twice a year. With multiple inversions, oxygen from the air is pulled down to the bottom of the pond on a continuous basis. As the pond is turned over several times each day instead of twice a year, toxic gases are released as they reach the pond’s surface. Oxygenated water at the pond’s bottom allows bacteria to reduce the build up of organic sediment.”
http://morganwinds.com/....
We can further speed up nature’s process to clean the oil if we move the oil drilling platforms to the dirtiest areas of the ocean and those most important for fish breeding and where the fish eat.
An alternative plan would be to put the oil drilling platforms in the middle of the toxic algae blooms that spring up every year if we can provide enough Oxygen to keep the blooms growing the plants will eat the toxic chemicals that cause the plants to grow like crazy in the first place.
Currently bad poison algae that grows fast in low Oxygen conditions (much like Cancer) is causing the algae blooms but if we provide Oxygen year round clear out the bad algae (more work for fishermen) then seed the area with good algae ( this would provide jobs for Gulf fishermen.) Then we can create Profit!
“Our goal is to be the first to feed it to cattle,” said Dr. Tryon Wickersham, an AgriLife Research animal nutrition scientist.
With a crude protein content as high as 30 percent, not only does it have the potential to become a valuable supplement for cattle feed, but also a protein source for fish, such as shrimp and redfish, which are currently under study.
http://agrilifeweb.tamu.edu/....
(Sorry can't seem to make this link work Please paste this if you want to read further.)
http://agrilife.org/...
The animal feed market is a fairly lucrative market. If recent soy meal prices are taken as a reference, the value of algae after oil extraction would be about $300 per T, and the US cattle alone consume about 300 million tons of protein/year (Mayfield 2008). That would be about $90 billion market for the US alone, with a worldwide market that could be well over $400 billion. Source: FAO, http://www.fao.org/....
Fish meal – Another interesting market for algae extract is fish meal. While the size of the worldwide fishmeal market is much smaller than that for animal feed ($20 billion per annum). Fishmeal is however a premium market when compared to animalfeed, with prices of fishmeal per T being about three times that for animal feed ($1200/T vs $300/T for animal feed) (
http://www.thefishsite.com/....
Omega-3 Fatty Acids – This is another exciting opportunity for those looking a valuable end use for left over algae extract. It is reported that the market demand for this far exceed the supply. Market demands for omega-3 fatty acids exceed current industry production capacity: Current world demand = $4.6 billion U.S; 2011 estimate = $8.2 billion U.S. Many current market suppliers of omega-3s are experiencing over 20 percent annual revenue growth for algae-based ingredients in food and nutritional products — with premium prices paid for the purest products. (Source: http://www.bookpump.com/....) This opportunity has not exactly been lost on companies. For instance, Seambiotic, in addition to fuel production, is also concentrating on microalgae-based animal and fish feed production. It is also considers production of food additives like omega 3 fatty acid from algae.
Fertilizers – Algal meal is a natural fertilizer for plants. Kelp or seaweed (algae) meal is a natural fertilizer. Its high potassium content combined with other organic fertilizers makes a complete soil treatment. It promotes vigorous indoor and outdoors plants, and can also help them battle frost and death. In Composting Organic Waste – Algae meal is an additive to improve decomposition conditions in composting of organic waste (GTZ, 1998). Additions of algae in composting process increases the structural portion in the windrow, improves the oxygen supply, reduces bulk weight, regulates the water content, reduces loss of nutrients, increases the air pore volume and promote the formation of clay-humus complexes. While there are no authentic data available for algae meal used as fertilizer, approximate estimates are in the range of US $0.2 – 0.45/ Kg, based on the prices of fertilizers made from similar bio-sources. (Source: SNAP Alginates, Ranipet, India, http://bit.ly/.... http://bit.ly/....)
Tests at Auburn University in Georgia showed that fish production increased from 3,000 lbs. per acre in un-aerated ponds to 6,000 lbs. per acre in aerated ponds by using CLEAN-FLO’s aquaculture recirculating system and aeration equipments.
http://www.clean-flo.com/....
I have no idea how many oil platforms with the biggest windmills possible providing power to force air to the bottom of the ocean it would take to clean up the Gulf. But a possible doubling of fish catches seems quite profitable. Billions can be made from Cattle Feed, Fish Feed and other agricultural products plus wouldn’t non poisonous Gulf Algae be a Carbon Sink BP could use to offset pollution from their oil thus more profit.
When you act to care for others you act to care for yourself
If BP and or the Government had looked for real ways to clean up the oil spill they could be making billions in profits and creating high paying jobs right now.
Instead they both denied their was a problem and when forced did a half ass clean up.