Israeli scientists develop huge sponge to mop up and ‘eat’ oil spills

Scientists at southern Israel’s Ben-Gurion University have engineered a high-tech sponge made from plant fibers that can both mop up an oil spill and feed the bacteria that feast on oil and break it down, the university said.

The usual methods for tackling oil spills are to skim and soak up the black mess or wait for nature’s microscopic cleaners to digest it.

But oil-eating bacteria operate slowly in open water because they lack essential nutrients such as nitrogen and phosphorus.

In the past, scientists tried dumping liquid fertilizers into oil-slicked waters to feed the bacteria. While it helped accelerate cleanup, the liquid fertilizer quickly diluted into ocean currents, lost its effectiveness, and sometimes caused unintended environmental consequences, such as triggering massive algae blooms.

The new research, led by Prof. Ariel Kushmaro and headed by Dr. Danit Lisa Karsagi Biron in the Environmental Biotechnology Laboratory, combines physical strength with sped-up biology.

The scientists created a spongy material made from cellulose fibers enriched with nutrients, then freeze-dried and baked at high heat (pyrolysis) to create a porous aerogel that acts like an ultra-light sponge. It repels water while locking onto petroleum compounds and can absorb roughly 100 times its own mass in crude oil or fuel in just seconds.

Once the oil is trapped, the aerogel transforms into a micro-ecosystem. The baked-in nutrients give local oil-degrading bacteria a comfortable platform from which to guzzle their favorite food source. Instead of floating away or washing out, the nutrients remain on the sponge. Bacteria swarm the fibers, form dense colonies, and rapidly break down the trapped pollutants, then devour the sponge itself.

“These findings demonstrate the potential of the method we developed as a versatile and sustainable platform for treating oil spills in aquatic and marine environments,” a university statement quoted Kushmaro as saying. “By combining physical adsorption with biodegradation, the technology offers a promising and innovative alternative to conventional approaches, addressing both immediate containment and long-term environmental recovery.”

The research team also included Hanna Barak, Barak Halpern, Esti Kramarski-Winter, Lee Sheli, Noa Azri, Prof. Shmuel Hayoun, and the late Prof. Alex Sivan, all from Ben-Gurion University.

The research is published last month in Chemical Engineering Journal Advances and the product is currently undergoing patent protection through BGN Technologies, the university’s technology commercialization company.