Dan Nichols sent us this suggestion:
From:
dan nichols
pattidan@yahoo.com
Message:
I am putting my name and idea anywhere I can as I think it is very
viable .I am a field service millwright and suggest crimping the
leaking riser shut until the relief well can be implemented . We can
build a self contained hydraulic open jaw press to press this pipe
shut in a very short period of time ,if the process is started .Please
forward this to whoever will listen and have them contact me to
discuss details and viability. thanks dan n
{ 208 comments }
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I feel that an open, very large, ball valve with a compression clamp could be attached. Then it’s just a matter of closing the ball valve.
This idea was also submitted by others on 5/30/10 & 6/1/10
Similar principal as the inflated balloon suggestion, but go one step futher and think stent.
I think if there was a super tensioned spring loaded cylindrical device that once it is placed deep enough inside the pipe…the spring tension is released and the device expands inside the pipe. The outside of the device has many abrasive spikes that would dig in and catch the sides of the pipe, preventing ejection. Through the center of this device is a feeding tube prefilled with metal bearings…these would be pushed out into the pipe and the force of the oil would wedge them against the device and pipe walls. Once the balls have been ejected it would be followed by drilling mud or other substances that would further plug it. Leave the feeding tube in place after it has been valved shut. Encase it in concrete.
La idea básica es muy simple, introducir una longitud determinada dentro del tubo de salida del derrame, un elemento de goma el cual será inflado a una gran velocidad con un material de alta densidad o aire comprimido que resista las presiones que se presentan a dichas profundidades, el elemento de goma deberá permitir la maniobra para que sea introducido dentro del tubo de salida del petróleo y deberá estar dividido a lo largo en varios compartimientos por si fallara alguno de ellos.
The basic idea is very simple, to introduce a certain length inside the tube of the spill, a rubber element which will be inflated at high speed with a high density material or compressed air to resist the pressures that are presented to such depths , the rubber element will allow the maneuver to be introduced into the oil outlet pipe and shall be divided in several compartments along if any of them fail.
I like the ideas posted above. Can anyone say if there is a substance that when mixed with crude oil quickly hardens? I was thinking that a perforated tube could possibly be inserted into the well to allow the injection of the substance. In a sense it would be kind of like the foam that plumbers fill gaps in walls with. Food for thought I hope. If someone else wrote a similar idea I beg your pardon for in my haste I missed it.
Charles
I honestly dont think they are listening to viable solutions.
I suggest we manufacture a plug in the shape of a giant round head rivet, with these exceptions. the body needs to taper from slightly smaller in diameter than the bore hole to a couple of inches larger. the head of the rivet needs to be heavy enough to DROP down under the depths of water we are talking. Ultimately more weight could be stacked on top to cause the drop down.
Once the plug is manufactured,, Crane the BP off the main bore hole and insert the Heavily weighted plug
I agree with Dan about crimping the pipe. I thought of it while watching them position some kind of hydraulic device over the pipe this weekend. I would suggest crimping it as many times along the pipe as necessary. If the oil pressure won’t allow one full crimp, try crimping the pipe over and over again until it can be crimped totally. If it doesn’t work then you can still cut the pipe and try some other idea.
Frank
Just out of curiosity, have they tried a pipe freezing system?? This would enable them to do the repair on pipe while the frozen oil would form a plug inside the pipe, temporarily preventing oil from spilling .
How about drilling 4 to 6 holes around the leak drill approx. 20 to 30 feet below. Place the bombs inside the drilled hole. Fill the holes with cement. (Note: This bombs needs to be designed and placed such that it all collapses toward the center – similar to technic used to demolish tall buildings). Detonate the bombs and hopefully the drilled hole will collapse and block the leak.
Cons: 1) fails and instead of collapsing it may create more fractures caused now oil to leak from several places instead of presently one place.
If anyone has suggested this idea before I don’t know. Again, engineers will have to crunch the numbers to determine feasibility. However, with all the techniques used by BP so far are the simple ideas. I would have expected with all the brainpower at work some new idea amd novel ideas would have been tried.
Goodluck
JR
I like the idea of drilling holes around the site, because if all 6 or 7 holes are leaking, there would be less over-all pressure coming from each one, making it easier to just plug them all.
A disk of shaped charges could be placed on the surface of the ocean floor en-circling the entry of the well that would focus shockwaves (via a conical geometry) from the blast downwards and inwards to cause tons of rock and seafloor to collapse the drilled hole inwards on itself. Since a sufficient amount of charge could effectively return the ocean floor to the state it was in before the hole was drilled, it should plug the leak.
As this would cause BP to lose its previous work however, the real problem may be in “plugging the leak” between government regulators and special industry interests first however…
Of course you are correct – its a no-brainer. I would drill down maybe 100 feet for each charge – with a dozen charges ringing the well and timed to go off simultaneously – as is done for an atomic bomb. Would compress the rock and close the well instantly and permanently. Duh!
Well, it might be to simple to be true..everyone is talking about the extreme presure at that depth..and really this will not even involve pressure.Are we really so complicated that we dont use simple ideas?Lets try this ,as hard as you may think this is easy…..find the diameter of the pipe in question(the well)make a tube to fit the inside diameter,make it 20 or 30 feet long or what ever you want for that mater,pipe must be very thick…about half the way in the pipe length weld a shut off valve in it….like a submarine would have,take the pipe and insert it in the well, weld around it if possible,close the valve and it is sealed. hope someone can make use of this and stop the leak.
Is the underground pipe metallic? If so, and assuming they still have the capability to pump fine materials (i.e. mud, sand, concrete, etc) into the pipe at force, why not pump magnetic sand into the throat of the pipe? The sand will be immediately attracted to the interior sides of the pipe and will build up over time, eventually reducing the inner-diameter of the pipe and, consequently, the flow of the oil (or stopping it altogether). If they can’t get get the magnetic sand to stick to the interior of the pipe, put a charge on the pipe and increase its magentic field.
If the pipe isn’t composed of a magnetic material, install a slightly smaller pipe with a metal interior and a sealing exterior (rubber of some sort?) within the pipe, then pump magnetic sand into the inner pipe using the same concept.
(just a recommendation from an armchair scientist).
-Thomas M
Get a high quality valve, leave it open , put it on the pipe, shut the valve after it is welded in place.
This will work, if you don;t have anyone that can figure this out, holler.I’ll get it done for you. For the price of the oil your loosing for one day.
Is is possible to get some decompress piping or tubing and insert directly into the leak to releive some of the pressure of the spill long enough to cap the well?
If the oil is coming out of the pipe why not send down an umbrella type device that opens at the bottom. No reason not to incorperate expanding plugs along the length of the pipe
Here is a simple procedure to stop the oil leak (please forward this to BP authorities):
1) Construct a smaller-diameter long pipe (that will fit inside the broken pipe) with an inflatable balloon or bladder of sorts on the end.
2) Place this smaller pipe+bladder inside the larger, broken, pipe (as deep as possible).
3) Apply high pressure air or water through the small pipe to inflate the balloon, plugging the oil line.
(Of course, the balloon must be made of a material resistant to oil, and the smaller pipe must be fixed with respect to the broken pipe).
there has to be a reason why BP cannot just crimp the pipe that the oils is leaking from – perhaps the blowout regulator on the sea floor is in the way, or the resulting wreckage from the rig failure won’t allow it. the pressure of the oil leaving the pipe is also tremendous as well no doubt, so introducing stents, ballon devices, smaller diameter pipes or valves would be near impossible (try sticking a metal rod into a fully pressurized firehose, and multiply it by a thousand on the difficulty scale). BP has already tried a rigid containment system, and failed.
why not try a flexible containment device, constructed of a oil resistant heavy gauge fabric in the shape of an inverted funnel that could be anchored to suitable sized concrete blocks placed at strategic points on the ocean floor. the blocks would be positioned first, then the inverted fabric funnel could be anchored into position high above the leak. tensioning devices could then be used to position the funnel over the leak. at the tip of the funnel an appropriate coupling device would be in place that would attach to a hose running to the surface vessel, where the oil would be pumped to. considerable seawater would also be pumped as a byproduct of this possible solution, so some sort of surface separation equipment would be required as well. BP and everyone else seems to be in agreement that the relief well being drilled will provide a 100% solution, so this device I have described would only have to function for approx 8 weeks until the relief well is complete. Any opinions on whether this would work or not??
……lift bags (air bags) attached to the top shoulder of the flexible fabric containment device could be inflated to keep the inverted funnel in the required position. The tension between the anchoring blocks on the ocean floor and the lift from these bags would make this device rock solid. as the device is collapsible, it could be transported to the ocean floor in an appropriate container itself and deployed at depth.
I believe drastic times call for drastic measures. Send a solid metal missile down the pipe, and plug’r up.
If 7-10 additional holes were drilled around the site all leading to the original pipe, then overall, each hole would consist of less pressure, making it simple to just plug them all…
If NASA wants to build a new space shuttle, maybe they should just offer to send the old one down the pipe.
If the water was spun around into a vortex, you would think that it could keep most of the oil in one spot for clean-up… Like poaching an egg. Throw a bunch of hay into the mix, and clean up this nightmare.
How about a freezing collar? There is already a tube inserted in the broken pipe. Fresh water can be pumped down through that tube into the well head (same process as pumping clay). Install a freezing collar around the leaking well head pipe and chill the pipe until it freezes solid. Maintain that freeze with the collar until the well can be capped with either hydraulic cement or a mechanical cap. This is not new technology but it does have a good track record.
Lower to the well head area a large tank shaped container, 30 or 50′ wide by 30 or 50′ high, or larger as necessary, to contain the oil spilled. Siphon up to tankers the oil that naturally flows to the top of this containment tank. Make the opening of the pipes large enough so that crystal hydrates are not formed. Leave doors or traps on tank shell to later introduce equipment, mechanical arms or robots, for further work as needed.
This will stop the spreading of the oil spill, and it is not necessary to cap the well head. Entire well can be safely emptied by this method.
They make expansion rings for toilets when the old flange breaks. You simply insert the new flange into the old pipe…crank on an adjustable screw that causes the rubber to expand into the drain pipe…and wala…new flange.
I was thinking…insert a device that would fit into the pipe almost snug…crank it so it expands…this device would have a 2 foot section…then an elbow that has two valves on it…one going side ways…one going up towards the surface. When you insert the new sleeve…the valve that points up will be shut off…the one on going side ways would remain open (so oil and gas could continue to flow without restrictions). Connect the new pipes or connection hoses to the new fitting on top of the elbow. Crank open the new valve and close off the valve on the side.
Michael’s idea is simple a large cylindrical piece of rubber 5 or 6 feet long with a hole in the center. A very long high tensile strength bolt through the center stainless steel high strength washers on each end and a large nut. When the bolt is tightened the washers will squeeze the rubber cylinder causing it to expand inside the well pipe. Keep it simple. Any mechanical engineer should be able to figure out the strength, length and type of materials needed in a very short time.
They are over looking the simple fix, I sent several fix ideas over the last few days, but the best is with the 3 – 4 hydraulic bags with lock valve to hold pressure when charged with a pipe through the center and a valve on the outside / water side that can be closed once the hydraulic bags are charged it the pipe, leak will stop.
An idea to stop oil leak (or, rather, reduce flow substantially): Firmly attach a heavy bracket to the oil pipe with either a reciprocating saw or circular saw included. As the saw cuts though the pipe the saw is held by the assembly so that the saw blade itself becomes the “gate valve” to effectively stop the flow though the pipe.
the cut cleared the riser why can’t they clamp below the flange with a over size victaulic coupling then build it up above the flange and cut…2300 psi but it will be open to the tankers taking in the oil….hard to believe the BOP is 5 stories high and the BOP valve is on the top why isn’t it on the bottom before the BOP structure..or in the middle even some TEE offs so they can tap pressure in to slow the riser PSI down
Design and build ROV flange unbolting, rebolting fixture.
Unbolt flange and discard broken section,(after removing broken pipe) lower in new flange with open new valve, rebolt in-place, close valve. Done .
Thats what I would do, simply and the oil continues to flow.
That is the first thing I thought when I watched the latest video yesterday. Remove the old flange, lower a new flange with the valve open. You could guide it in using cable threaded through the existing holes. You could also attach some sort of spring loaded device either around the flange or through the holes, to hold it in place until bolted down. I could draw a crude sketch of my ideas of using guide cables and clamps if you are interested.
Glad to see it’s not just me with this idea. Can’t believe that bolting an open gate valve in place has not been done. I have a MSME and 27 patents – keep thinking they must have plenty of engineers smarter than me…
Idea 1. You need to design and build a parabolic accessory, which its purpose would be to contain Oxygen. The device would then be submerged and would descend evenly downward to rupture site and fastened over burst. The Oil would then stream upward into the device and would float to the surface of the Oxygen in the contained environment subsequent of it’s lower density.
Idea 2. A high pressure compressed air flow could be inserted directly into burst area. If airtight bond or seal can be formed the air pressure would stabilize the flow of Oil through the pipes and further more cease any access Oil from escaping into the water.
Idea 3. Secure a valve that limits the Oil flow and connect piping or hose to the rupture site and pump oil directly onto ship reservoir.
I agree with Dan and Frank. I read that getting rid of the crimp in the pipe increased the excaping oil my 20%. Even if the crimp can’t stop all the oil it seems like a bigger one could at least slow down the oil enough to make capping it faster.
I used to work for Haliburton. When I worked there I worked in their Frac Department. When we did Fracturing, we used isolating tools. You lowered the tool in via the BOP down into the casing and isolated the formation that you were going to work on. Simple as this, They have cut off the riser that was bent, creating a straight shot through the BOP into the casing. Why not use an isolating tool at this point to shut the well down? If they don’t have a tool that is able to do that, I can guarantee that they would be able to machine one within 24-48 hours. Simple as that
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gVsmhH70580
contain the outflow in a giant sack that extends up to shallower depths (or even the surface) and has valves at the top for extraction of gas and oil
Saw this done in 1966 [ Relative is oil man ]
Take a pipe the exact dimensions of the well pipe and 2/3rds its depth in length. Now lathe the bottom end so that it tappers from 1cm under size to right size about 1 – 2 metres from the top. Put valve on top of pipe BEFORE you lower it [ leave open ] Slide pipe into well pipe like spigot till it jambs tight.
Weight slid pipe with donut rings to counter pressure. Turn off valve. . Fast, sure, WORKS!!
instead of drilling the reliefs wells from the surface BLIND…why doesn’t BP drill into the riser within the BOP just off the ocean floor?..then on the cap from thursday night contact. why didn’t they just drop a reducing coupling that would fit over the 24″ cut line and the flange…big truck tire installed over it (24″ cut pipe) prior to droping the coupling down .then slip lead rings over the open part of the coupling to weigh it down .take a US NAVY attack sub weld a 25″ diameter cap onto its 6 o’clock position nose and have the sub settle itself over the 24″ opening(cap is filled inside with hardened rubber to seal)..the sub stunt can’t happen till they tap the riser pipe and controll the flow after the sub drops down
a cone shape rubber attached 1000 weight place in the orfaci
I am a metallurgical engineer. My solution for stopping BP’s Gulf oil leak is to cut the pipe just above the blowout protector, then lower and then ignite a large container of thermite. Thermite (see wikipedia.org/wiki/Thermite) is a mixture of iron oxide and aluminum powders. When ignited the aluminum reacts with the iron oxide with the evolution of heat, and the formation of molten iron and aluminum oxide. This is the basis of thermite welding, a process used for field welding steel rails. When ignited over the tubing, the molten iron should run down into the well and solidify, thereby plugging the well.
you could build a 2 piece box to attach to well casing below valves. the bottom half of box would have a cone inserted an fabbed into it. what it would do was allow you to postion it over the valves and below them. when positioned below valves you could add cement or whatever material that would bond to well casing an inner wall of cone, bottom side of box capable of passing over the valves. when attached to top half of box, cone would act like a wedge if it slipped on casing it would slide to the bottom of flange for valves an stop, allowing for a minor leak compared to what you have now. the top half would fit over the valves but would only seal away from an clear of valves, fasten the 2 halfs together, however you can. the top half would have a valve on it opened until attached to bottom half. install box and shut valve or cement to pipe. ( the smaller hole in can would be to the bottom of box) thank you and good luck with whatever you all do. god bless
Modified Balloon catheter: Insert in existing pipe to depth required (at oil source), inflate “balloon” by whatever means necessary to stem the flow… plug and seal with material of choice.
30 years working with oil and natural gas plant engineering I see this Oil leak I not a simple matter to cap as it is deep under water and were the pressure is so high. The oil coming out with a pressure and whatever we will try to do will fail. There are 2 possibilities I can see. First of all we must reduce the pressure. To do so a Victaulic coupling may do if only we have at list 6” straight pipe both side of the damage. If it can be done then the pressure will come down and may be then poured special concert in large volume on it. Second choice will be using same method as we did in Kuwait after Sedum Hosen blow up the oil field. It may be risky. The process will be cut the pipe straight just below the damaged part. Again we need at list 6” straight pipe here. Then use a 3000 Pound gate valve. Slowly insert the valve when the valve is open so pressure will not push the valve out. Use bolt to attach the valve with the pipe. Now slowly close the Gate valve. This will shut the flow of oil and in future we can attach another pipe on the other side of the valve and continue oil extraction. I shall be happy to talk to the BP engineers about it if I can be any help to them.
To reduce or stop the oil leak fabricate a blast gate similar to the below picture. Make the pipe longer to slide over the oil pipe. When you slide the new pipe over the oil pipe leave the blast open to reduce the pressure on the blast gate. The blast gate must be secure to the pipe with some type of anchor through the new pipe into the old or use something like a pipe clamp with welded eye bolts a cable and turn buckles may be used to keep the new pipe from blowing off. Once everything is secure the blast gate will be close reducing the oil flow. When the other end of the pipe is connected to a pump the go to a tanker the blast gate will be open. Most of the oil will go to the tanker. Have your engineer s finish the design.
Here is an economical suggestion BP may perhaps consider to slow or stop the oil leak…
It’s a simple idea of having a graduated steel plug inserted into the flow. A basic image of the concept is available on request. By having a narrow tapered insertion tip relative to the riser pipe it would be easy to insert initially. Then as it is slowly lowered into the riser pipe the plug diameter graduates in a tapered manner to a larger and larger diameter finally matching or nearly matching the riser pipe diameter. With a gradual insertion and gradual increase in plug diameter, the inertia from the oil flow coming from the resevoir up the riser pipe is able to slow in a controlled way due to reducing of the volume capacity of the riser pipe. The initial insertion stays within the riser and guide the whole process until the plug is fully inserted. The total height of the plug may need to be many meters long if the riser pipe can accept the height, perhaps 10-20 meters or more for the full plug. On the top of the graduated steel plug is affixed a ballast tank that allows for concrete or other ballast to be added to the plug to increase the weight of the plug until the force of it’s weight is greater than the force of the oil flow out. Thanks for letting us offer suggestions.
To Chris Kirchmann,
Great solution, it sounds like we’re on the same sheet of paper. Inserting a tapered steel plug into the riser pipe is the only way they are going to stop this leak quickly.
cc
I would select a large heavy Barge, A ttach a thick lead plate to the bottom. Pull the barge into place over the well on the surface. Attach guide cables to guide it down to the well head. Cut off the riser X inches above the bottom. Clear away all debris from the floor area, Load the barge to max weight to sink the barge. Send it to the bottom via the guide cables to impact level on the drill casing flat on the bottom. The drill casing will punch into the lead bottom and create a seal, The weight of the loaded barge will fit flat on the bottom and keep the lead seal in place. “Get er done” . You are destroying our Planet.
drill a whole on the longitudinal side of the broken pipe. big enough to plug in a kind of bag (imagine an airbag or a balloon). fill the bag with cement…
the bag will press itself against the inner wall of the pipe and the outcoming oil will be stopped.
My grandson has a 2 ” plastic toy shape like a ball that has spikes coming out of it, when you let go of the ball the spikes come out 2″ on each side of the ball, which makes the ball grow from 2″ in diameter to 6″ in diameter. ( make ball to whatever size that will work ) I assume it is spring loaded. Anyway design steel balls with steel spikes, place balls into injection pipe and pump into wellhead, the spikes will come out of the balls and the pressure will flow balls into path of flowing oil and gas, the balls will lodge in opening because of expanding sizes. This will reduce the size of the holes, inject gook into system and it will plug up holes.
Thanks:
Jack
If there is a flange below the break, you can fab up a spool peice with a flange and a(globe valve) the same size as pipe. Have a robot go down and remove flange below the break and install new spool peice with valve open, this will allow flow to continue while installing. Once you install it you can regulate the pressure with the globe valve.
Chuck James (Old Pipeftter)
Why doesn’t anyone question whether this is just a convenient leak,and BP should just send down one of their Big Pig executives to plug it.Its called compensation.Everyone else seem to think this is a very serious matter and they have deviated from the truth from day 1 did they expect to pay royalties on 2000 barrels of oil when in fact the oil gushing from their hole is around 19 to 20,000 barrels a day.My solution for the moment would be to terminate all of their contracts and bring charges against this corporation and their executives.This administration should not be handling them with kid gloves.Finally the Corporation should be put into receivership and tenders should be sent out to competent multiple international organisations to start working vigorously to clean up this spill,all individuals and states affected should bring a class action suit.
Now friends we don’t have to bust our heads about any technical soultions all these here probably were put on the table and many of them are viable however we are not the deciders.They will have to try a coagulant not a dispersal ,but this might constipate them.
Drill a verticle small hole as close as possible to the the existing oil rushing hole (depth to be determined by expert) and drop an explosive device. The explosion will create the cave in of the oil hole and block it for good.
BP was initially in the right direction with the three story containment vessel. The flaw was that the vessel should have been lowered with the upper portion open entirely. Thus, the vessel needs to be cut completely allowing hydrolic jacks to be installed around the vessel. Once the vessel is lowered it would be secured to the bottom of the sea floor. Once secured the hydrolic jacks would allow the top to be lowered to the bottom portion and large clamps would be placed to permanently secure the top to the bottom of the vessel. The whole time the top is being lowered the various valves would be in the open position to relieve pressure on the hydrolic jacks. Once the vessel is installed, pipe leading to tankers on the surface of the water would begin to collect the oil and gas.
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