This start-up uses a wonder material called graphene to clean up oil spills

Graphene-based products are four times as effective than conventional polypropylene, and much safer to use

Oil spills have massive and quick economic, social, and environmental impacts. Besides local people losing their livelihoods as fisheries and tourism areas are momentarily closed, the cleaning costs are huge, while thousands of marine animals and plants are also harmed or killed. It can not only take years to clean up an area but more importantly, the chemical used to break up the oil can also be toxic and the oil which goes down with the ship can contaminate the seabed and marine organisms. 

Log 9 Materials, a nanotechnology company is betting big on this problem. An IIT Roorkee spin-off, Log 9 is using the wonder material ‘graphene’ for better containment and absorption of offshore and onshore oil spills and chemical spills for the protection of the environment. These graphene-based products can be used to prevent, control and clean spills of all form - oil and chemical - in and around marine or terrestrial ecosystems. The company says that the process is very different from traditionally used polypropylene material.

“One gram of polypropylene can absorb maximum 20 grams of oil but one gram of graphene-based sponges can absorb up to 86 gram sof oil, displaying about 4-5 times more capacity,” said Akshay Singhal, co-founder and chief executive of Log 9 Materials. “Additionally, polypropylene is a plastic-based material so it leads to a lot of pollutants whereas graphene is much safer for the environment as it is carbon-based,” said Singhal, who founded the company along with his IIT-Roorkee college mate Kartik Hajela in 2015.

Bengaluru-based Log 9’s experience and expertise lie in making products based on ‘graphene’ which is one million times thinner than paper and forms graphite or pencil lead when stacked together. These products made include metal-air batteries that enable vehicles to run on water, filters that reduce the toxic chemicals in the smoke and the oil sorbent pads for industrial clean up, oil leaks and spills. Log 9 whose office is tucked away in a lane not very far away from IISc, is also using the institute’s facility to work on products using graphene material, which is 200 times stronger than steel.

Observing a huge demand to tackle the problem of oil spills, Log 9 has launched a subsidiary company named Log 9 Spill Containment Pvt Ltd. The company will focus not only on innovating and working upon unique products for after-spill clean-ups in water bodies but also towards control of leakage and prevention of such incidents. 

Graphene is used in oil pads as a sponge material that is custom developed by Log 9. These water-resistant and reusable graphene-based absorbents also have the ability to soak up oil leaks and spills from water bodies. They are lightweight, flexible and can float. The graphene-based oil pads have very high absorbance for oil and other organic chemicals and the best thing is that they do not absorb water at all. This makes them efficient for marine use as well as in case of onshore spills.

“Oil and chemical spills, be it in water bodies or on land, are a major contributor to environmental pollution,” said Ashok Misra, an honorary professor at IISc Bangalore. “Log 9 Spill Containment products leverage the tremendous potential of graphene as a material to contribute to a cleaner future by being more efficient than conventionally used materials.” 

Log 9 has already marked its presence in the domestic market selling its sorbent pads to a number of petrochemical refineries and marine clean-up and environment protection stakeholders. It is exporting to Southeast Asian shipping hubs and companies based in Singapore and Hong Kong and is also tapping large oil and shipping companies such as Reliance and Maersk.

“Log 9's spill containment products have shown tremendous potential in the marine spill containment industry. Not only do they have high efficiency because of graphene being at their core, but are also reusable and safe to dispose of,” said L Yin, Marketing Manager at Indo-Nordic Maritime Services, a customer of Log 9. 

According to Log 9, its spill products are priced the same as the other absorbents offered by companies such as 3M, Brady and New Pig. Singhal said that the company does not have any direct competitor yet in the market as graphene comes at a high price and no other firm has been able to provide graphene-based absorbents at a cost-effective price point. It is able to do this by first identifying applications and then customising the material accordingly. “We first optimise the material, work on a commercially viable design of the final product, design the assembling process, and then take care of packaging, followed by distribution. This is done so that the cost of graphene does not become a barrier,” added Singhal.

Log 9’s innovation is important as 30 years ago, the Exxon Valdez oil tanker ran aground in Prince William Sound, Alaska. It dumped 11 million gallons of oil into the ocean and the spill affected almost the whole of Alaskan coastline, killing sea otters, birds, harbor seals and other wildlife. Since Exxon Valdez incident, more than 9,500 tanker spills have occurred worldwide. For instance, in 2010, the Deep Horizon oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico dumped 19 times more oil into the ocean compared to Exxon Valdez.

For the year 2018, the International Tanker Owners Pollution Federation (ITOPF) recorded three large spills (greater than 700 tonnes) and three medium spills (7–700 tonnes). The total volume of oil lost to the environment recorded in 2018 was approximately 116,000 tonnes, the majority of which can be attributed to the incident involving the MT SANCHI that occurred in the East China Sea. This annual quantity is the largest recorded in 24 years, according to ITOPF.