It can mop up not only surface spills but sub-surface oil as well.

Cleaning up an oil spill is certainly not an easy task, just ask British Petroleum or Exxon Mobil. Current mop up technology allows for either skimming of the oil from the water body’s surface or burn it. Given their impact on the environment, both methods are undesirable. Further, both methods do not factor in the sludge that is trapped below the surface of the waves.

This is where the U.S. Department of Energy’s Oleo Sponge comes into play.

Unlike other cleanup solutions, the Oleo sponge can literally scrub the entire water column and more importantly, the collected oil can be reused.

The new technology builds on previous research from Argonne National Laboratory regarding how to trap oil in a complex structure. In Oleo’s case, the breakthrough came in the form of cellulose sponge treated with “hard metal oxide atoms.”

“After some trial and error, [researchers] found a way to adapt the technique to grow an extremely thin layer of metal oxide ‘primer’ near the foam’s interior surfaces,” reads a statement from the Lab.

“This serves as the perfect glue for attaching oil-loving molecules, which are deposited in a second step; they hold onto the metal oxide layer with one end and reach out to grab oil molecules with the other.”

Do take a look at this video which demonstrates the efficacy of the sponge.

The best part of it all is that the sponge can be treated with different substances to mop up just about anything you can think of.