[Subtitle News] Domestic researchers did it! Development of an amazing landing net / YTN
[자막뉴스] 국내 연구진이 해냈다! 놀라운 뜰채 개발 / YTN
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZobtKrW9ZgQ
July 24, 2022
Mauritius, an African island country boasting natural beauty
In 2020, an environmental disaster occurred when a Japanese cargo ship ran aground, spilling more than 1,000 tons of oil.
The oil that leaked at this time was low-sulfur oil with high viscosity.
The International Maritime Organization has mandated that all ships use only low-sulfur oil starting from 2020, but it hardens easily when it comes in contact with cold seawater, making it difficult to recover the oil using existing control equipment.
However, a domestic research team has developed an eco-friendly scoop that can easily scoop out and remove sticky oil.
We assumed a situation where high-viscosity low-sulfur oil was leaked into the sea.
If you use a conventional absorbent cloth, the oil will only stick to the surface and drip, but if you use the newly developed scoop, the water will drain and only the oil can be easily recovered.
The principle of collecting insectivorous plants that catch insects was applied to this garden net.
The surface of the sac-shaped carnivorous plant has long cilia that absorb water and create a thick, hard layer of water similar to a water film, allowing insects to glide easily.
The research team created a landing net by applying nano cilia that mimic the cilia of carnivorous plants to cellulose, an eco-friendly material.
A landing net made in this way can pass through water and extract only oil.
Thanks to the water layer formed by nano cilia, oil is easily separated from the surface of the float, and its performance does not deteriorate even after being used hundreds of times.
As a result of the research team's experiment with the Coast Guard, they were able to recover 1 ton of low-sulfur oil per day using a landing net.
[Myeong-Woon Moon / KIST Extreme Materials Research Center Senior Researcher: We also found that if oil rises on the lubricating layer of an insectivorous plant, the oil will fall off much more easily. Especially in the case of high viscosity, it is very important for the oil to drip well. We thought it would be a good idea to use these principles in oil recovery, so we applied them.]
The researchers explained that the developed technology can be applied not only to landing nets, but also to marine oil removal gloves and work clothing.
In addition, we are continuing follow-up research, such as developing a machine using a nanociliary structure to automatically recover oil from the ocean.
This is Yang Hwayeong from YTN Science.