Oil Spill: Why not a bigger containment box???

[Bill Ectric]

I understand that the 40 foot tall containment box didn't work to control the leaking oil, because ice crystals formed in the box and clogged the pipe leading to the surface. But surely, a much bigger box, like, the size of an upside-down battleship, and a much wider pipe for the oil to pass through to the surface, would work better. Can someone explain why this would not work? Yes, it would cost a lot, but, hey, at this point I think the money would be well-spent. We cranked out battleships in WWII when we needed them! Why can't Obama order the U.S. Navy SEABEES to design something? I'm serious. I don't see why it can't be done.

Maybe even heat the box to keep ice from forming. I know someone will say the heat might ignite the oil. I don't know - maybe, maybe not. And what if it did?

[samiam]

Yes I believe something like this would work, But we no longer have the manufacturing base we had during WII. It would take months to design and build. Another thing is no one would want to be liable if it did not work.

[Bill Ectric]

It's one of those things, like New Orleans after the hurricane, which the government will look back on and say, "Yeah, in retrospect, we should have bit the bullet, pulled out all the stops, and got the job done."  Manufacturing base or not, I bet we could do it if it had anything to do with Iraq.

[JaxByDefault]

The size of the box is not the issue. Methane hydrate crystals formed at relatively high temperatures because of the pressure at -5k ft underwater. A methane hydrate is basically a water-ice encased methane molecule. Even if it were as easy as melting ice, which it isn't, one also has to account for the methane that would then be liberated.

As they're a pretty common occurrence, the engineers likely were planning to see some crystal formation but hoped it would be in a more manageable location.

The large problem with this spill is that we're now drilling in locations where we do not have proven technology to curb post-accident spills. Working at 5k below the surface is a vastly different environment than 400 ft. to 1k ft. below surface. It's like saying something works fine on the surface of Earth so it will certainly work in space.

[Timkin]

Actually on another thread I saw a video that was stunning and so incredibly simple an idea , it is almost funny..  But seeing is believing.   These two men poured crude oil into 2 bowls, filled mostly full of water ,and dumped HAY of all things in on top of it....stirring the hay, to create wave action which would occur naturally, and the oil actually clings to the hay.. The idea is that by nature, as seaweed and debris do wash ashore, so too would this,this would seem to be a preferred method of containment ,versus attempting to cleanup just raw crude on the grasses and soils, rocks ,etc. and it could then be picked up by machinery currently used to clean beaches up of seaweed..  Seems to me this also could allow them to reclaim the oil by somehow compressing the hay and squeezing the oil out.  This is certainly, unarguably a plan that should be implemented... There is no way I see that this could not immensely help to contain this spill.   Theres alot of hay to dump out there, and the idea is to spray the hay all over the spill area, and repeat the process, untill most of it is out of the water.  A ridiculously simple idea!  and nothing short of ingenious.

[Bill Ectric]

Thanks, JaxByDefault, it makes more sense to me now.

[JC]

Oooh, ooh I got it!

[Bill Ectric]

Is that the dome from the Simpsons Movie? Hahaha, good one.

The more I think about it, I still believe a larger containment box would work. A huge, structure like an upside down ship hill, with huge pipes connected to it to redirect the oil through the pipes.

[JC]

Is that the dome from the Simpsons Movie? Hahaha, good one.

The more I think about it, I still believe a larger containment box would work. A huge, structure like an upside down ship hill, with huge pipes connected to it to redirect the oil through the pipes.

yeah!