Acoustic Levitation for Environmental Remediation: An Effective Approach for Containment and Forecasting of Oil Spills (2409.01642v1)

Abstract: The ocean ecology is badly impacted by large-scale oil spills, plastic waste, and chemical pollution, which destroy ecosystems and endanger marine life. Acknowledging the detrimental effects of oil spills on ecosystems, our research aims to establish the foundation for creative methods to lessen their impact. With an emphasis on the containment and prediction of oil spills, this research investigates the potential of acoustic levitation as a cutting-edge technique for environmental cleanup. Effectively separating and eliminating pollutants without causing additional ecological harm is a major issue for traditional oil spill cleanup techniques. Acoustic levitation provides a non-invasive, accurate, and effective alternative by using sound waves to precisely and subtly separate oil droplets from water in controlled environments. This proposed approach can reduce the negative effects on the environment and increase the efficacy of cleanup efforts. The findings have been examined and assessed by proof of concept experiments with oil droplets, identifying the relationship between the intensity of ultrasonic pressure and the proportion of oil droplets collected.