In Brief

22 June 2016

Magnets could pull oil out of ocean before wildlife is harmed

Oil-binding nanoparticles allow simple magnets to draw oil out of water, a tool that could quickly remove toxic leaks from ocean habitats

Magnet mop up

Daniel Beltrá

HERE’S an attractive idea. Magnets could be used to mop up oil spills, stopping them from killing wildlife. All you need is a sprinkling of iron oxide nanoparticles.

The stickiness of oil makes it difficult to remove from marine plants and animals if it leaks from tankers or offshore rigs, so finding a method for quickly cleaning up spills is essential.

Now Yi Du at the University of Wollongong, Australia, and his team have found a way to do this, using tiny particles of iron oxide that tightly bind to droplets of oil.


When added to small water tanks polluted with oil, these 25-nanometre-wide particles turned the oil into a magnetic liquid that could be drawn towards a simple bar magnet (Physical Chemistry Chemical Physics,; ACS Nano,

Du envisages sprinkling these particles over oil spills in the ocean. “Then, ships with small magnets could move around the spill, and all the oil would be sucked towards the magnets and collected,” he says.

The particles are non-toxic, and any excess could be hoovered up with magnets and reused, Du says. “Iron oxide nanoparticles are already commonly used in medical imaging, so we know they’re safe,” he says.

The team plans to test the nanoparticles in larger tank experiments, before seeking permission to trial them in open water.

This article appeared in print under the headline “Magnets could quickly pull oil spills out of the ocean”