OleoSorb Boom
Regenerable Oil‑Selective Sorbent for Marine and Industrial Spill Response
Problem
Oil spills from maritime transport, industrial operations, fuel storage facilities, stormwater systems, and port infrastructure pose persistent environmental and operational challenges. Conventional sorbents, such as polypropylene booms, are widely used but are typically single-use products that can become saturated quickly and generate significant waste after deployment. As organizations seek more sustainable and cost-effective spill response solutions, there is growing demand for materials that selectively capture hydrocarbons, repel water, and can be reused across multiple cleanup cycles.
Solution
OleoSorb® Boom, developed by Coral Innovations, is an oil-selective, regenerable sorbent system designed for marine and industrial spill response. Built on Northwestern-originated materials research and Coral’s proprietary oleophilic-hydrophobic polymer platform, OleoSorb® selectively absorbs hydrocarbons while repelling water, enabling efficient oil recovery in challenging environmental conditions.
Unlike conventional single-use sorbents, OleoSorb® Boom is engineered for regeneration and reuse. After deployment, captured oil can be mechanically recovered through wringing or Coral’s regeneration process, allowing the boom to be redeployed across multiple response cycles while reducing waste generation and overall operating costs.
The goal was not simply to make another sorbent, but to create a reusable materials platform that selectively captures oil while leaving water behind. Seeing Coral translate this Northwestern research into field-ready products is exactly the kind of university impact we aim for.”
— Vinayak Dravid, PhD
Professor, McCormick School of Engineering
Benefits
- High selectivity: Captures oil while repelling water, improving cleanup efficiency in contaminated or dynamic environments.
- Regenerable and reusable: Designed for repeated reuse cycles, reducing waste relative to single-use sorbents.
- High capacity: Designed for high oil uptake while maintaining water repellency and operational durability.
- Cost efficiency: Reusability and oil recovery can reduce disposal burden and lower lifetime response cost.
- Scalable deployment: Compatible with standard boom formats and spill-response protocols.
- Environmental impact: Reduces landfill waste and supports more sustainable spill mitigation.
Technology & Commercialization Status
McCormick Professor Vinayak Dravid's research pioneered regenerable sorbent materials through innovations in surface chemistry, nanostructured materials, and environmentally responsive polymers, enabling reusable sorbents that selectively capture hydrocarbons from water.
Coral Innovations has translated this Northwestern technology into the OleoSorb® Boom, a field-ready platform for maritime, industrial, and municipal spill response. Co-founder and CTO Vikas Nandwana has led its transition from laboratory research to engineered products, pilot deployments, manufacturing scale-up, and commercialization.
Field deployments have demonstrated strong oil uptake, reusability, and multi-cycle durability under real-world conditions. With its selective, regenerable design, OleoSorb® Boom offers a sustainable, next-generation approach to spill response and environmental protection.
Northwestern Inventor
Vinayak P. Dravid, PhD
Abraham Harris Professor of Materials Science and Engineering
McCormick School of Engineering
Founding Director, NUANCE Center
Links
Website: https://www.coral-innovations.com/