Oil Spill in the gulf

[Jimmy L.]

I have an idea on how to stop the oil leak in the gulf. I will say it and would welcome a response on why it would work or not work. My idea is to cool the contents of the pipe down to the point that it slows down. If it does not freeze thats ok, at least it would slow it down and make the other processes that have been used thus far more viable. My theory is to either pump or sink a tank of liquid nitrogen down to the bottom. If from the surface if you pumped liquid nitrogen through one main tube it might take more of a pump than if you used several small tubes to help overcome the pressure of the 5000 ft. depth. My idea on one side would be to introduce liquid nitrogen up stream in the pipe. Let it flow for a while and hopefully it would freeze the contents of the pipe, if not, since the temp. of the water at that depth is already 42 degrees, you possibly could freeze the water at the end of the pipe. I realize there is quite of bit of pressure at the end of the pipe, but maybe you could shroud a relatively large area at the end and introduce the liquid nitrogen to create a huge ice plug. I also did a small experiment today. It was vegetable oil not crude, however it it got solid enough that i think it would not flow through a pipe.

 

Thanks!

 

Just an idea!

[Moontanman]

I think it's quite possible that at the temps and pressures at that depth liquid nitrogen would come rather close to being a liquid already. I'm not sure it would have the impact you are looking for.

[Double K]

So then the sollution would be, what becomes solid at that pressure and temperature at that depth?

[Moontanman]

Well they tried concrete.

[Double K]

well the problem with that is, concrete is porous...so that was never going to work. Also with so much pressure behind the leak, it would just blast thru anything not already solid.

 

Seems the answer lies somewhere with trying to provide equilibrium with the pressures.

[Jimmy L.]

To me the fact that the nitrogen is liquid or not doesn`t matter, its the temperature. At the tempurature of liquid nitrogen it should be able to freeze oil, sea water, or about anything known to man.

[iNow]

First, liquid nitrogen cannot freeze anything. There are limits. That's why we use other things like liquid helium and other evaporative bowl cooling techniques when needed.

 

That said, how might one successfully apply the freezing agent to the spot of the leak in such a precise and consistent manner as to solidify the oil? Remember, applying a freezing agent in a classroom or lab is not quite the same as applying it in a pool of water (which will dilute it and spread it and make it rather difficult to target properly) a mile down.

 

Also, you'd need to keep applying the agent to keep it frozen.

Finally, has anyone considered how the extreme pressure down there might alter the response entirely? For all we know, we could freeze the pipe itself and make it more brittle and then make the situation worse.

[Jimmy L.]

I would say run several small pipes with some sort of pump. I would also ask the explanation why liquid nitrogen can`t freeze anything. I`ve seen personally dipping a steel bar in liquid nitrogen then dropping it on the floor and it broke like glass. I also understand the theory about it freezing the surrounding pipe, but if you introduced liquid nitrogen, helium, etc. it wouldn`t necessarly cool the pipe to the point of becoming brittle. If you used the theory of freezing the water at the end of the pipe the brittleness would not be to much of an issue.

[iNow]

Fill up your pool with water.

Place a hose connected to oil at the bottom.

Pressurize that hose and pump the oil into your pool.

Try freezing just the oil using liquid nitrogen.

 

This is not even close to how difficult it would be under the ocean, and you'd probably still fail because of the surrounding water in your pool.

 

And no, liquid nitrogen has limits. They may or ma not apply here, but it only gets so cold.

 

 

Don't get me wrong. I think it's an interesting idea, but I'm confident it would never work for some of the reasons articulated above.

[Jimmy L.]

With a constant feed of liquid nitrogen could you freeze the water in the pool?

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I don`t know if my idea is totally wrong but if it is I am with you, what would become solid at that depth. I am not a rocket scientist but that makes sense to me.