One thing that surprised me when I started this blog was that you, members of the public, have ideas about how to help solve the oil spill disaster and BP doesn’t want to hear about them. We’ve now gotten five unsolicited contact forms containing suggestions for stopping or preventing damage from the spill, and one person making the suggestion appears to have a good idea but says BP won’t talk with him. I’m a lawyer, not an engineer, so it may be that none of the ideas have merit, but I’m going to post the suggestions here and send links to some people who are involved in the cleanup effort. If you have an idea you think is worth considering, use our Contact Form and send it along. Social media is already helping pinpoint the damage and provide contact information for people who see injured birds and other things that need reporting. It would be nice if social media could give one member of the public a way to contribute one brilliant idea. I’m calling it “Crowdsourcing the Oil Spill.”
Here, contact information with those who have given permission, are your suggestions. If any agency or company working to stop the gusher or cleanup the oil wants to contact any of these people, I will be happy to provide their contact information.
1. Mark Badger writes: “We have a way to contain the oil coming up from the seabed and we manufacture a boom system that far, far exceeds anything you have ever seen. 600 miles of it can be produced and deployed in under 30 days with current available materials.
Our boom sits a full three feet at water level and extends 8 feet under water and can be used as a containment system for animals as well in shallow waters like the Florida Keys. What are you going to do when dead manatees start washing up?
Our containment system for the well can be manufactured and deployed for complete containment in about 21 days. It is very simple to build, it will work in heavy seas, very simple to deploy and maintain. This system would allow the capture of ALL of the oil coming out of the well. It will even work in 50 foot seas and will withstand a hurricane.
We have tried to move our ideas forward to BP but we get no return calls or contact.
I can be called at 954-591-4298.”
2. Ed M. writes: “Why not run tubing string inside recovery casing and inject steam. Haven’t done math but should be able to get effect of line heater.”
3. Larry S. writes: “A suggestion to consider for preventing ice crystals.
1. Raise the dome.
2. Place a puncturable membrane on the bottom. (8 mil Visqueen)
3. Lower the dome 90 percent in the water.
4. Fill with automotive antifreeze.
5. Lower the dome back into position.
Hopefully, the majority of the antifreeze would remain in the dome during the descent.”
4. Clive W. writes: “Isn’t it possible to use tankers equipped with oil /water separators to literally vacuum up oil on the surface of the water, extract the oil and pump filtered water back into the ocean ? The oil would then be stored in the hold and taken back to storage containers on land. The technology to do this already exists it’s just a matter of putting it all together.
It just might work as a temporary solution.
Just trying to help.”
5. David C. writes: “Directors at British Petroleum , Honorable,Prudent,Beloved,Faithful. I have been a metal worker for many years. I have an idea to stop the oil but if you use it the idea you pay for my dentist bill 100% what ever I need. So my idea is to drill small holes, horizontal holes, in the existing well head pipe say, 1/4″ or3/8″. Then push steel rods into the holes like fingers. Keep on inserting the rods until you create a grid. Maybe you will have to go up and down the pipe with a series of rods. Then go about six feet down from the grid drill another hole big enough to inject golf balls. After that is done drill a hole in the middle of this mess of semi-jammed golf balls and inject a plastic epoxy into the middle under high pressure then the pipe would jam. Like some one in England once said, “jam yesterday, jam tomorrow but never jam today”. Good luck God be with you. Your friend David C….”
Do you have a brilliant idea to stop the leak or prevent damage to the ecosystem? Would you like for BP to pay your dentist bill (thanks to David C. for that idea)? Send your idea to us and, if it appears halfway reasonable, we’ll pass it along to someone with some authority.
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My idea (I’m an engineer with 35 yrs experience in heavy industrial maintenance, a few years running a high pressure anhydrous ammonia plant)…. remove the flange bolts holding the bent/broken pipe to the mating flange, have a new section of same size pipe constructed with an identical size flange on the bottom and a manual shutoff valve at the top (have the valve in the open position), position the new pipe section using the robot(s) over the open pipe just so two bolt holes line up (one on the upper flange, one on the lower, with the new section positioned 180 degrees from the leaking section which will allow the oil pressure to spew the oil staight up while the robot inserts a bolt into the two holes, then fasten a nut on the bolt. After the flanges are fastened with the one bolt, turn the new pipe 180 degrees so it lines up with the leaking section. The majority of the oil should flow upwards through the new pipe and open valve. Now insert and tighten the remaining bolts. When this is complete, have the robot close the new valve at the top of this section. Now connect the new piping/hosing from this valve discharge up to the tanker. Then have the robot open the valve.
I’m also an engineer (electrical) who has worked with liquid fertilizer (in another life). I would do something similar.
First take out every other bolt on the flange. Replace those bolts with three completely threaded bolts long enough to allow a valve to be inserted. After the long bolts are in place, remove the remaining short bolts. Now the flanges will separate allowing enough room for a valve. The valve will then be inserted in the gap formed by the “missing” long bolt. (three long bolts installed, not four) Note that the valve needs to be in the open position during insertion. After the valve is in position, the fourth long bolt will be inserted. Now the long bolts are slowly and evenly tightened until new short bolts can be installed in the open holes. Now all bolts get tightened until the flanges are tight against the valve.
Now you have a valve that can be throttled.
Finally, do not use the shears to cut the pipe as that will leave a jagged mess. Instead, do the saw again remembering that the pipe will try to pinch the saw (like a tree will pinch a chain saw).
With a clean cut pipe it should be possible to attach a steel braided suction hose over the pipe and the use a banding tool to seal the hose to the pipe. Note that the well would be kept open and the hose would be lowered to the casing while being pumped to create suction at it’s end.
I think, after the valve has been closed, the raising oilpressure up to 6000-10000 PSI, or maybe even more, will blow the upper flange off.
I agree with this and had actually thought of the exact same thing. Actually if they think lining up the bolts and nuts will be to diffricult with the robots, why can’t they just weld it together at the flange. Shouldn’t be an issue since the oil can’t combust underwater without oxygen. It made me sick when I saw the flange there last night with all the bolts in it. I thought to myself, if you want the pipe off of it take the bolts out stupid. And oil has been coming out of thing this long and none of the engineers there have thought of putting a valve on it to shut it off?
My concept for stopping the leak would consist of 10 or more (45 gallon drum sized) heavy rubber bladder material (like the type used in air bags on transport truck suspension) linked together via some type of a delivery pipe. Imagine sausages tied end to end in a butcher shop.
The rubber bladders should be around 8 to 12” when collapsed and would be expanded by either air or a gas that could rapidly expand the bags to their fullest sequentially against the inner surface of the 22” casing. Each bladder would assist the previous one enough to slow down the flow to begin with, and shut it down entirely providing engineers the time needed to re-fit a new shut off valve to the end of the casing.
Vitali Klonin AKA (Vic)
113 Bermuda Lane NW
Calgary, Alberta, Canada
403 245-1536
vic.klonin@shaw.ca
My suggestion is to suck. Have a surface vessel use a pipe that will suck water at a rate higher than the oil is spilling. A funnel end should self seal. Heavy anchors will be needed to prvent the tube from rising. Once the oil starts up the pipe the water can be switched from ocean dischrge to a tanker. This may need a mega capacity pump pushing from the ocean floor.
Peter Dolby
Think of a very large and heavy bell. On the closed end of this bell is a pipe that is attached to a tanker. The open end of the bell is placed over the leak, capturing the oil which is then transferred to the tanker. The oil can then be pumped out of the bell and through the pipe.
Simples. Use elecro-magnets. Surround the pipe and either put a big magnet ‘plug’ on top or a structure to funnel the oil. Copyrighted.
have a length of pipe of slightly larger diameter than the pipe leaking,cut it length wise in two,hinge one side, and place two or more hydraulic cylinders on the hinge side so that it acts like a large clamp,drop this down and allow this to clamp onto the end of the cut pipe,when cylinders close this acts like a sleeve that wraps around the pipe,but before you do this have a round end cap with a seal on this and another hydraulic cylinder mounted on one of the sections that will close over the end of the leaking pipe after the clamp closes,or you could put a valve on the cap that folds down so oil could be extracted
think of an umbrella. it goes into the pipe closed on the end of a shaft, (which makes it easy to fight the leaking oil pressure), then once deep enough inside the pipe, expand it open to plug the leak, for a long enough length to fill the pipe with cement for the permanent seal.
if is too tough to open the ‘umbrella’ because of gas/oil pressure escaping, have several ‘umbrellas’ on the shaft with voids to slow the escaping gas/oil at each ‘umbrella’ until the leakage is stopped for the cement.
Cut a slit halfway throught the pipe and insert a heavy steel plate in the slit like a Slide gate valve. It works on my pool filter under pressure.
Insert a large heavy duty inflatable rubber ballon attached to the end of a long air pipe down the broken oil pipe then inflate it so it wedges it’s self in the oil pipe and stops the flow. Then you can put a vale on the end of the oil pipe once flow is stopped and cap it off or weld it shut.
1.Construct a box from 2 interocking halves, with very strong latches.
make sure the 2 halves are not hinged together.
1a. make an opening in one end to match the pipes dimensions.
2. pack the 2 halves with clay.
3. lower both halves using the robot tools available.
4. place on either side of pipe. Anchor to pipe and sea floor. via cables
5. squeeze both sides together around the pipe, allowing the clay to squeeze out of box, note some will be pressed into the pipe also.
6. latch together the halves. reinforce anchors prevent box slippage.
7. work on final repairs, while the box holds.
Half joke, half serious. I think it would be interesting if BP started talking with tampon companies, get them to make the biggest tampon ever, and plug it that way. I honestly think it would stop the flow for enough time for them to perform a more permanent solution.
The tampon companies should want to try this: “Stoping the heaviest flow in US history.” Think of the marketing/publicity!
Here is a solution: create an asparatus that works on the same fundamental principle as a slinky, attatch this slinky to a powerful drill, the slinky should be made of material that is capable of expanding into a humongous wire mesh as the drill is used to twist and (counterclock wise or clockwise) unfold the slinky into the oil hole (where spill derives)…the only problem is that I have not devised a way to propell the slinky forward…maybe someone else can figure that out…the overall objective of the slinky is to drive it into the hole–as it is propelled forward it fills the diameter of the hole and its wire mesh material slows down the flow of the oil…of course this will have to be a gigantic slinky…and BP should have the diameter measurements of the hole…the slinky should slow down the oil spill if the mesh is designed properly.
From what I understand, there is some form of tubing which connects the surface of the ocean’s floor to the deep oil reservoir underneath. Why not remove that tubing by some kind of robot? When this tubing was never there to begin with, the oil was peacefully beneath the ocean’s floor, covered with “God knows” how many tons of sand.
Hopefully there IS a tubing, not just a drilled well of some sort.
Just wanna help.
Here is a solution: create an apparatus that works on the same fundamental principle as a slinky, attach this slinky to a powerful drill, the slinky should be made of material that is capable of expanding into a humongous wire mesh as the drill is used to twist and (counter clock wise or clockwise) unfold the slinky into the oil hole (where spill derives)…the only problem is that I have not devised a way to propel the slinky forward…maybe someone else can figure that out…the overall objective of the slinky is to drive it into the hole–as it is propelled forward it fills the diameter of the hole and its wire mesh material slows down the flow of the oil…of course this will have to be a gigantic slinky…and BP should have the diameter measurements of the hole…the slinky should slow down the oil spill if the mesh is designed properly.
This might be a little off the wall but how about placing an atomic bomb on the gulf floor next to the well head, evacuating the area and detonating the device. The resultant explosion should collapse the well sealing it off.
There are other wells in the area that would be damaged.
But, the a-bomb could possibly work in destroying the well tube.
Hello,
Major problems sometimes yield over thought, complex solutions. Why not treat this as a battle wound? It’s a blown out blood vessel. Use either a tourniquet and I.V? With a twist. As aircraft refuel in mid air, slide a metal tube into the shaft, that once past the line below the surface opens up like a broadhead arrow. Then flow the oil through the line into a tanker with a control valve at the top. Simplicity is bliss. Unless pressure will not allow. I’m not sure what the pressure is coming out.
Anyway that is my thought. Tweak this idea if your a brain whiz.
Acts 11:24
Build a pipe spool with a tee in it, same size and connection flange to match the severed piece connected to the top of the BOP. The run portion of the tee would need a lug type butterfly valve in the open position during installation. This would relieve the oil pressure while attaching the spool to the top flange conn of the BOP. The branch end of the tee would be used to pipe the pressurized oil to a tanker. It would need a valve as well. When the proper connections are made, then the valve on the tee run could be closed to divert flow to the tanker above via the tee branch. Butterfly valves could be for the initial setup due to weight and size advantages over other valves for the robot handling.
A metal collar is place around the oil pipe where it emerges from the sea floor. A large, heavy, needle-shaped plug is lowered from the surface via winch until it is just above the wellhead. Robots using lines can position the needle in the jet of oil and it can then be lowered into the pipe. Once started, the guide lines can be removed as the needle will be self guiding as it continues to be lowered. A circular flange welded to the needle where its diameter is slightly larger than than the inside diameter of the pipe functions as a stop and weight holder, and a metal column extends upward from the flange to an eye that is the attaching point for the winch cable that lowers the needle plug. Heavy rings are dropped down the line one by one, resting around the metal column and on the needle plug flange, until their weight surpasses the force of the oil pressure in the pipeline. The collar around the pipeline prevents the great outward force of the needle plug from splitting the pipe and allowing oil to escape through the crack.
Hello from Amsterdam Holland,
Led is much cheaper, 2500 dollar for 1000 kg. There has to be made a large concrete chamber or a frame made of steel on the seafloor first, to prevent the big cube of led from capsizing of the needle.
I also thought about a long heavy needle. In my calculations based on upward pressure of 6000-10000 PSI the needle has a weight of 800.ooo kg. The sharp long part can be made of stiff steel to prevent bending during the needle insertion operation, the broader upper part can be made of led, 11,3 kg/liter, gold would be even better, this is 19 kg per liter but then the needle will cost 30.000.000.000 dollar
And of course, big seacranes.
Peter Smits Amsterdam
Idea to stop the BP oil leak given these known limitations:
1. Any cap or domes will acquire a build up of an ice like substance on the inside of the cap causing problems with oil flow.
2. The oil is gushing out at a high rate and with high pressure making it difficult to work on the leak or place any object on it.
3. Drilling additional holes in the leaking pipe is difficult and time consuming.
Solution: Mechanical Iris valve cap
Create a metal ring or washer that is slightly larger than the leaking oil pipe, that has an encased metal iris at the top. Use 8 tethers, 4 at 45 degree angles, 4 at 90 degree angles to help with stabilizing and lowing the ring into place, if needed. Weld or cement the base of the Mechanical Iris valve cap onto the leaking oil pipe, strong enough to withstand the pressure of the oil when the cap is closed. Close the Iris. This will stop most if not all of the leak. Attach a pipe to the end of the Iris valve cap, which has a docking collar creating a full seal with the pipe. Open the iris and collect the oil.
A mechanical iris is a common enough engineering concept, used in the lenses of cameras, cooking utensils, pipe valves, or as seen on the TV show Stargate. The concept of the iris was taken from long evolved biological organs such as the eye and heart valves. A metal Iris can withstand an incredible amount of pressure as its innate design reinforces itself.
With the iris in the open position while being lowered will allow the vast majority of the spewing oil to bypass it allowing it to more easily be put into place and preventing the issue of ice build up since it does not have any dome. The design of the iris will avoid difficulties of fighting the current since the base will be solidly attached to the pipe before trying to cap the pipe. An Iris cap does not need any additional holes to be drilled into the leaking oil pipe.
If BP can attach a cap to the wellhead (they say they can), then they could attach one that has an integral flap-style check valve that would be tucked against the inside wall and held in place until the cap is installed. Then the flap could be released slowly from the sidewall (using a screw mechanism), and the force of the gas pressure would hold the flap against the inside of the top of the wellhead cap, sealing it very effectively.
This suggestion would result in a 100% shutoff of the oil stream. Remove the top 1/2 of the flange that is bolted to the top of the BOP. Attach a 21″D x 36″D transition to the BOP flange. This can be accomplished by attaching 4 all thread bolts to the 21″ side of the flange and 4 steel cables. The cables should be long enough to attach through holes in the flange then thread them through the holes in the BOP. As the cabels are pulled through the BOP flange the all thread bolts are guided through other holes in the BOP flange. Thread double nuts onto the bolts as they come through the flange holes and continue to tighten until the two flanges are mated. If you use 24″ or longer all thread bolts it will make the allignment easier and the bolts can be cut off below the bottom nuts as the flanges are brought closer together. Once the transition piece is secure. Bolt on a 36″ ball valve ( full open) with a 6 foot length of pipe closest to the transition piece. Then repeat with two more valves. Once this is complete close the first valve 5% then the next 5% and the last 5%. Continue in 5% increments until all three valves are closed. You can’t stop a train with one barrier, you need to slow it down gradually. Good luck.
Drop a huge steel golf tee into the hole and plug it – simples
To softly funnel the spewing oil until a final repair cam be made, if a nylon tube were made (even up to 100 yards around) were waited and lowered generally over the area, the gusher would be directed to one concentrated area to easily remove it from the surface. That tube could be constucted of fallow fishing nets lined with tentaterial and be suitable for any deep well containment. Exactitude and high-tech solutions are not required for fast containment.
Giant Valve
Weld an additional pipe to the pipe that is leaking. If your robots can operate saws and giant sheers under water then I’m sure they can use welding equipment. Surely the pipes must have been welded when you put them down there.
The pipe that is welded on should gradually open up to a larger diameter so that you have less pressure per square inch coming from the gushing oil. This larger pipe should have a large valve, similar to the one’s used on all kinds of mechanical devices such as fire hydrants, water spigots, etc. The pipe should be welded with the valve in the “open” position so that it is not under pressure while you’re doing the work. Once the new pipe (or pipe sleeve) is welded into place, you should be able to close the valve. After all, the blow out preventer is nothing but a valve anyway, right? It certainly sounds like a better idea than the “top hat”, the “junk shot”, or trying to shoot mud and wet concrete into the pipe. It seems so simple that it just might work. Problem solved. By the way, another person had the idea that perhaps in the future, you could drill a relief well ahead of time in case this happens again. Please let me know if you use it. I would be right proud of myself for coming up with a solution. Good luck to you.
Imagine large man hole cover’s carved into screens, being lowered on to one another individually. In a woven pattern until you eventually choke off the well. Of course you’d need to weld each screen to the other, Before progressing to the next screen. If unable to achieve full blockage from that method. The flow of the pipe will have been reduced enough to explore secondary measures ie. epoxy’s/cement.
Hopefully resulting in full blockage.Good luck and God bless.
“Liquid Chimney” Solution
As all the other methods have failed, the only logical solution is a mile-high “liquid chimney”.
This could simply be a mile of existing 30 inch oil pipeline made of steel that could be welded together in a short time, shipped out and suspended above the well to capture the oil. Taking sea currents into account, it doesn’t even have to be vertical.
It does not have to have a seal, nor dome and requires that the deep ocean has access to PUSH the oil up the pipe.
As hot air rises and creates a powerful updraught effect in a tall chimney, the same principle will work in a tube of less dense liquid in a denser environment.
As the oil floats up the chimney and fills up it will rise and its average density will decrease. The deep ocean will then start to push the oil to the surface, and the end of the suspended pipeline will collect the escaping oil just like a vacuum cleaner.
Formation of gas hydrates will help, not hinder because they float and not being forced into a smaller diameter pipe, where they can jam.
With a mile of height, there should be enough pressure available to push the oil+gas+water completely out of the ocean and up to a ship, where the pipe contents can be skimmed and separated.
Assuming a full column of oil in the chimney, the pressure at the surface should be equal to the pressure at 5000ft × (density of seawater – density of oil) :
P at 5000ft × (ρ sea – ρ oil)
If oil density is 0.8 and water is 1, this gives in PSI:
2167 × (1 − 0.8) = 433 PSI
This is a huge amount! More than enough to siphon (in the true sense) into a waiting tanker to be separated and recover ALL of the oil.
It could have been assembled and deployed within a few days.
I read the oilpressure to overcome is 8000 PSI.
I think there has to be no water in your new riserpipes before mounting to the flange of the old one, to prevent ice and other chemical reactions.
And it will take too much time to make and mount the new riser pipe parts. Let’s say 20 meter new riserpipe per day, makes 80 days to come to the surface, with max continue spill 50.000 barrels a day, while during the mounting proces you cannot easily collect the spill.
BP must quit dumping the dispersants onto the oil!… This is not only going to continue the ecological disaster, but it will provoke it for a much, much longer time.
They are playing with chemicals that are not meant to be used in such massive quantities… this could potentially kill off the ocean in the Gulf!
Simple yet effective. Build a cone wide enough to cover the area where the oil is spewing out. Make it with a suction pipe on the top end and simply hook up a vacuum pump to it and suck up all the oil as it comes out the blowout preventer pipe. Have tanker ships ready to receive the oil ready to be shipped to a place where the oil and water can be processed.
This would be a temporary solution that would stop the oil from getting into the Gulf until the two new holes are drilled which would stop the oil flow ahead of the BP.
copyrighted.
Ok. I can fix this!!! Build a pipe to fit down inside the broken pipe . Inside this insertion pipe , build a hyd operated trap door . This pipe should be as long as possible . But packing or o rings on outside of insertion pipe and lots of them to seal the oil off. ( like a hyd ram inside of cyl . Now with a cable and weight leave the trap door open and gently insert the pipe down inside the broken pipe. There will be no resistance ontil you shut the trap door . Once in side the pipe 50′ or so weld the insertion pipe or use barbs on the incertion pipe so it can’t slide back out when you close the trap door. There must be room in there for a big enough hyd cylinder. If not make a self locking door and push it shut with a 3 rd pipe . Hope this helps. Thanks. Danny
I am an ordinarily person that is always thinking out side of the box. I feel I have a solution to stop any more of the oil from spreading through out the Gulf until you able to fix the well bye drilling the relief wells and then closing off this one.
How this solution or Idea will stop any more of the oil spreading through out the Gulf and you should be able to retain (90% to 100% of the oil coming out of the well it is simple and may not be very costly and you could have it done in 4 to 10 days or so.
If you were to take a plastic bag like a silage bag for putting hay bales in, these bags are made as long as you want, they make them about 6’ to 15’ in diameter.
Now with a bag of about 10’ to 15 ‘ diameter pull it all the way down and put it over the top of the well head and tie it there. You may need to allow water to come up inside of the tube to help the flow of oil up to the top. As it reaches the top, where you have the plastic bag or tube connected to a floating tank that is 20’ to 30’ in diameter an about 50 to 100’ long and when floating upright in the water about 20’ to 30’ of the tank will be out of the water. It may have to be longer so that about 50′ is out of the water. With the bigger diameter oil tank, the water that came up with the oil would keep the oil and gas in the top part of the tank where it will be pumped off and the water would separate out at the bottom of the tank and help to stabilize the tank at the same time. This would allow the oil to be contained and pumped onto tankers at the surface.
A top or cover could be placed on the tank so you then could have a flare stack connection. You then could connect to a pipe/hose to run a flare away from the floating tank and the oil tankers could pump from the connections that are put on the floating oil tank. Because of the larger diameter of the floating oil tank the pressure would be nil or close to it as long as the tankers where pumping off the oil, one would have to keep safety in mind first. This safety tube is something that maybe or should be considered on any oil well under water.
There may be some salt water with the oil but that can be separated out either in the floating oil tank or after it has been pumped on to the oil tankers. The plastic bag may very well have to be of a stronger material but it would have to remain very flexible. I want to help were I can with this oil spill.
I think all of you involved are doing a great job at trying to fix it. Keep up the good work and I hope this will help to contain the oil so it can be picked up before it spreads in the water any more.
My ph # is 250-421-3009 or my direct line is 250-420-2358, email is dfoster@ekrealty.com and if you want my toll free # it is 866-426-8211 ext 358 it may not work from the USA as I am in Cranbrook, British Columbia, Canada.
Thanks for the time, please let me know how it works.
Duane Foster
B.P might beable to build a 400 ft long auger that would fit down inside the leaking well. After the auger is lowered into place, they could pump drilling mud or cement down the center of the auger. The mud or cement would be forced below the auger flights inside the oil well, and maybe the auger flights would help hold the mud or cement in place in order to make B.Ps top kill process work.
I THINK BP JUST WANT’S THAT SECOND WELL HEAD IN . THAT WAY THEY CAN HAVE THEIR CAKE AND EAT IT TO. AFTER ALL THEY ARE A BRITISH COMPANY WHY SHOULD THEY CARE WHAT THEY DO TO THE AMERICAN ECOLOGY THEY DON’T HAVE TO LIVE WITH IT OR LOOK AT IT. ALSO IT’S NOT THEIR FISHING FLEET THAT’S ALL WASHED UP AND DONE FOR ALONG WITH THE WAY OF LIFE FOR MILLIONS OF PEOPLE ALONG THE GULF SHORES. ALL THEY HAD TO DO IN THE FIRST PLACE IS TRY TO PINCH IT SHUT. SOUNDS TO EASY BUT IT JUST MIGHT HAVE WORKED. WILL WE EVER KNOW ?
Another possible solution:
Insert a one mile long non-magnetic stainless steel pipe, together with a almost one mile long iron tube.
Start the top-kill procedure with mud mixed with very little non-round magnets and nails through the non-magnetic stainlesssteel pipe.
Wait for the gradually proces of oilpipe thromboembolism the way up; obstruction due to the sticky proces at the wall of the iron pipe. Hopefully the oilwellpipe itself is also made of iron.
To overcome 8000 PSI on 19 square decimeter you need a pile of 800 tons of material; led, gold, water, iron, but with magnetic obstruction, it can be much less.
How about freezing the oil in the pipe ?
Then cap it with a fitting to appply air pressure.
Let it thaw out.
Blow the oil down the pipe and refreez with no oil in the pipe.
Then while still frozen fill the pipe with concrete and recap.
I seen on the news a guy pumping oil out of his marshes on his boat , he cleans up spills and septic tanks and other things with these pumps, but the government/Bp will not use his idea because it wasn’t suggested by them! I know the Navy has tons of pumps they use to suck in salt water and convert it into fresh water. So why cant somebody get some ships and these pumps to start cleaning up the oil that is ruining our planet and killing numerous animals and life in the gulf and surrounding waters! Action needs to be taken because these booms out there are doing little to nothing to prevent further damage. Why cant it just be shut down, I guess some believe money is more important then life, but there will be no money if this kind of thin keeps going on! So lets hope this disaster ends before it is to late! I am no genius , but with all the intelligent people out there in the world , why cant somebody come up with a permanent solution
Instead of running booms along shore , run 2 long booms on each side of oil sleek v shape to shore where vacuum trucks can remove it.
Would a cap which is long and composed of several convoluted pipes at the top to allow the oil to flow in several directions be more likely to stay in place. Lets say two or more of these convoluted pipes are then attached to surface pipes with or without a vacuum to draw the oil off into containers. Just an idea from a grandma!
i made a vid on youtube showing a large magnet to cover pipe like a manhole cover with hole in it for pipes to run through. it will work
I’m an artist and I’ve been thinking about a long Sausage like line,with sections of tubes. That will soak up the oil. As a wench pulls up the line it can squeez the oil out of this tubes. And drain them into the hold of the tanker and just keep rotating the line over and over. Simple cheap and fast.
Why can’t they just keep dumping mud and cement on the damn hole until it stops leaking? Does anyone think a MOUNTAIN of mud and cement would not be able to stop the oil?
After the leak is stopped, have the robots patrol around the edge of the mud/cement mountain checking for any leaks.
At the pipe that was cut where the oil is coming out, securely attach a giant steel mesh reinforced deflated balloon type device. The bottom end is attached to the pipe. At the top end a suction device to draw out the oil is attached. Have a bunch of these balloon devices at the ready if the filling is quicker than the unfilling of the balloon.
I need forms so I can send in my suggestions for the oil spill solution. Does anyone know where I can go to get those forms? much thanks.
Courtney
BP’s “junk shot” was idiotic. Plugging a 20″ pipe under pressure with golf balls and tire pieces!!?? That would be laughable if this wasn’t so serious. However, there is a way to make that idea work. It’s a lot easier to plug a lot of smaller pipes that are designed to be plugged…
Basically, make a bundle of vertical pipes that together has a somewhat smaller diameter than the main pipe. Each pipe has an inside diameter slightly smaller than a golf ball. The lower end of each pipe is flared out so the golf balls will fit in the flare, but not go up the pipe. Put the pipe bundle in the main pipe. Since the smaller pipes are all open at this point, there isn’t much resistence to doing this. If necessary a large weight could be used to get it in. Alternately, the center of the bundle could have a threaded pipe not connected to the bundle, while the bundle has nuts attached that go on the screw. The bundle is locked at the top to prevent turning, but not downward motion, and a drive mechanism turns the screw and drives the bundle down.
Get the lower end down to the depth necessary. The upper end has a solid portion with fins around the edge made of a softer metal such as lead. The top portion is rammed in, the fins deform and lock it in. Alternately a weight could be used to hold it down (a lead cylinder 12 feet in diameter and height is sufficient to overcome the oil pressure).
Now the glof balls are injected (steel bals would be better). The balls go in each of the pipe tapers and block the pipes. The only flow left is the small voids between the pipes and between the bundle and the main pipes. Inject more junk to plug those gaps and follow up with cement for a permanent plug.
you know how they make bridge pillars with round concrete forms
take as many as needed and drop above and around the spill lettling each rest on the other like a hollow circle all the way to the to and raise 2oo feet above sea level and cap run pipe to fill barges
you can use forms like they use to make city drainage’s you could even use the building to make a oil rig on top of same thing as what the inside of oil rig leg there all hollow on the inside
My suggestion is to make a pipe similar to the one that pumped the oil to the surface, only make it small enough to just fit inside the original pipe. This pipe would have holes drilled on both sides (or randomly space holes- I’m not an engineer so they could figure it out) all the way up to the surface of the water–large enough to let the pressure escape and be dispersed as the oil rises through the pipe to the surface. The next step would be to have a series of shorter pipes that are the same width as the original pipe with a slightly wider bottom to fit on the outside of the blown out pipe. These pipes would slide over the pipe with holes and then be bolted on to the inner pipe as each section is put into place. (So in essence, a pipe with holes that would be encased within a sectioned solid pipe. ) Hopefully you can combine our ideas to come up with a solution!!!!
The Foam Bomb
Create a hyper expansive two part epoxy that can be detonated simultaneously in a cubic grid around the leak. I used some plumbing foam once and that shit was on my skin for weeks.
The morons at BP need to be shoved aside and somebody else needs to take over. There are basically 3 ways to get the well under control:
1) Plug the well.
2) Contain the flow.
3) Destroy the well underground and hope that plugs it.
Option 3 is risky; if you destroy the well underground and it continues to leak, there’s little chance of fixing it. BP has made idiotic attempts at 1 and 2 with little success. Shooting drilling mud into a well with as much pressure as this one had virtually no chance of success (while BP said there was a 60-70% chance). Shooting golf balls and tire pieces into a 22 inch well with a hundredth the flow of this one wouldn’t work. They have made multiple containment vessels that don’t even seal. There is a perfectly good flange below the pipe they mangled, to which a containment vessel could be sealed. That could virtually eliminate the leakage while they collect the oil.
Plugging the well is harder than most people realize, but certainly not impossible. It takes a lot of brute force. You have to realize that the well pressure is around 4 million pounds (based on 10,000 PSI in a 22 inch pipe). You need at least that much force to stop the flow (downward force and/or binding force within the pipe. That sounds like a lot, but a good size water tower (250,000 gallons) filled with concrete would suffice; or a 12×12 foot lead cylinder. Trying to cram a plug in with that much force would likely destroy the well. What needs to be done is to put something far down the well (at least past the first annulus) to divide the single pipe into a lot of smaller channels. Since the oil would flow through the channels at this point, it isn’t particularly hard to put that in place. That then has to be held in place by something like the lead cylinder (mounted on something like a water tower structure around the well so it doesn’t simply crush the well). You can then inject things from below that will actually clog the smaller channels. Once the entire thing is clogged from below, cement is put in from above. I doubt that putting cement in from below the clog would have much effect, since it will simply go down the pipe. Some sort of fast drying sealant mixed with the injected material might work.
I have a suggestion for containing the BP spill and actually use the oil that’s spilling out. I do not know the specific’s or the actual size of the leak. But, I was thinking of a large upside down funnel type mechanizium, maybe with a pumping system or not, covering the entire leak at the ocean floor and actually going into the ocean floor. Attached to the funnel system is a large tube or hose leading up to the ocean surface where the oil can be pumped onto barges. I know it sounds extreme. But extreme situations call for extreme measures.
try a T-shaped open tube assembly with shut off valves. cinch down to bpo and activate.
similar to this:
http://tinypic.com/r/29nxftv/6
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