Four stories tall and weighing in at nearly 100 tons, this Cofferdam is a containment unit that sits on a barge heading from Louisiana into the Gulf of Mexico.
Posted on 06/07/2010 1:09:19 PM PDT by neverdem
With everything from fiber optics and high-speed centrifuges to antifreeze and pantyhose.
The BP spill is giving Man, and his works to assert mastery over nature, a bad name. But just as technology caused this mess, technology will eventually end it. Below, the five most impressive technological forces at work in the Gulf saga.
THE RIG Yes, the scorched hulk of the Deepwater Horizon that set this catastrophe in motion now lies in ruins at the bottom of the Gulf of Mexico, but before it became the site of tragedy for eleven families and a symbol of capitalist hubris for the enemies of domestic drilling, the $500 million Horizon was a record-breaking technological dynamo, and an innovation spurred by the political pressures that are pushing drilling ever farther off our shores. Designed by Houston’s Reading & Bates Corp. and built by Hyundai in 2001, the Deepwater Horizon was one of a small number of semi-submersible, dynamically positionable ultra-deepwater rigs. That is, unlike “jackup” rigs, with legs that rest on the ocean floor, the Deepwater Horizon floated on four massive stabilizing pontoons, which kept it stationary and level as waves washed beneath it. This allowed the rig to move anywhere it was needed, withstand 40-foot waves and 100-knot winds, and operate in water as deep as 10,000 feet. Powered by two 9,775-hp, 7,000-kilowatt AC generators, and outfitted with awesome-sounding machinery like the “heave compensator,” “cascading shaker,” “hydraulic power choke,” and “iron roughneck,” it obliterated the previous world record — and its own nominal capacities — for offshore drill depth when it hit 35,055 feet in the Gulf.
THE COSTNER SOLUTION In a world in which the combination of Hollywood and politics is often nauseating, Kevin Costner’s unlikely emergence as a potential hero of the Gulf cleanup effort is a welcome exception...
(Excerpt) Read more at article.nationalreview.com ...
how about a big steel re-enforced concrete dome? 50’ round... lowered over the site... 2 pipes, one at the top, one at the bottom, for oil/water separation. ability to heat it via electricity from the surface to insure the pipes don’t freeze
it’d prolly weigh 50+ tons and would serve as a cap if you want... but i’d try to use the pips to drain off the oil to a ship on the surface
once in place, the oil would fill the dome and push up the pipes, as that would be the path of least resistance. shutoff the lower pipe once all the water is out.
in the end, you’d have an oil filled dome on the bottom with a pipe leading to the surface you can use to drain it.
simple plan... for some reason, they keep thinking small.
I was thinking of something like this (although it would be a lot of work to put together). Remember seeing pictures of those very high altitude weather balloons that have long flowing lower sections to accomodate for the massive expansion of gasses at high altitudes? How about instead of a mile long rigid or semi rigid pipe with a fixed diameter - they used an oversized tube-type thing made of a very fexible material that would bend and expand to accomodate the volume and pressure of the oil (like the lower section of the balloon). Other than the massive effort to make such a thing - the other problem would be affixing it to the blowout pipe. But, if that could be done the oil would have much more room inside the oversized containment to be captured without blowing back out. The crystal forming problem would be solved too. This wouldn’t be perfect however as far as capture goes. Once the oil gets to the surface I would let it come out into a pool on the surface which would be surrounded by v. large booms. As the oil fills the pool it could be pumped out by tankers taking turns. There would still be spillage but you could probably get like 75+% once the procedure was tweaked and best percentages were being captured. It would basically be an oversized mile long sleeve - providing a much bigger (and variable) diameter for the oil to follow up towards the surface.
Very similar to my thoughts. They’d rather complicate things.
Four stories tall and weighing in at nearly 100 tons, this Cofferdam is a containment unit that sits on a barge heading from Louisiana into the Gulf of Mexico.
I still think they could have made it work.
Warm sea water and methanol pumped in to prevent hydrates from forming until the dome was filled with oil.
But I guess they already thought of that.
The best comparison I have seen is looking at the BP spill compared to Apollo 13. The Apollo 13 success was the work of ENGINEERS who were immediately put to work on the problem with one goal...failure is not an option. The BP spill was tackled by bureaucrats, lawyers and politicians as well as such geniuses as Hollywood film makers. With the space program being wound down couldn’t Obama unleash some of those ENGINEERS to look at the problem?
Looks like a caisson. Would have worked too but the ice crystals that formed on it made it too light to sink far enough, if I understan correctly.
It doesn’t matter — the Apollo 13 rescue could probably not be done today. The engineers, all types, would say we need to do “this”, and the lawyers and “activists” and “commurnity organizers” would say you can’t, or you can do 10% of what you say is required. They say you can’t drill in shallow water and then screech when you drill a mile deep and something happens. We have GOT to get rid of these communists or we are never going to be able to keep going as a nation. That simple.
“as well as such geniuses as Hollywood film makers.”
The very crux of the problem. They should not be allowed to interfere in these things.
Lack of scale and physics understinding ping...
It's like trying to contain a fire hose with a bucket.
Even now, with current admittedly imperfect system, they’re pumping oil up the line, not waiting for pressure to push it.
Most of the "pressure" is flowing out the vents so that the current fix does fly out of the pipe like a bottle rocket on steroids and screw up the progress made to date.
The more suction that can be provided by pumps balanced with the structural integrity of the pipes, tubes etc., balancing the collapsing force with the up to 2300 psi ambient pressure 5000 feet down,the more oil they will be able to pump.
Still needs to be transported 1 mile vertically...
Try carrying a barrel of oil up a few hundred flights of steps - see how far you get...
Until then - lack of scale and physics ping...
The part that would make them millionaires if it was a useful solution - the part that makes it actually work...
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