Low-cost cleanup solutions for shipping and offshore oil company spills are provided by NASA’s micro-encapsulation technology. A fast-acting powder, comprised of volumes of tiny hollow wax spheres, repels water while soaking up oils and fuels before they settle to the bottom of a body of water.
During the space shuttle era, NASA engineers and researchers devised technologies to create hollow, uniformly spherical microcapsules around 10 micrometers in size. The goal was to be able to use them to hold time-released antibiotics or targeted doses of medication. Since then, industry has applied the technology to remediation products, flavor enhancers for food, feedstock for bees, and other products.
Learn more about how NASA helped develop technology that impacts pollution remediation within your city's coastal environment!