Abstract: An organic oil boom is a method for containing pollution floating on water or the sea. The invention describes a method that makes it possible to isolate pollution as, for example, oil, from the surrounding environment. Spraying a viscous liquid such as an alginate or chitosan solution over and around the oil results in isolation of the oil from the seawater as the mixture has a density that is lighter than seawater and heavier than oil. To isolate the oil also from the air, a gas is added so that the density of the mixture is lower than the density of the oil. The addition of a multivalent cation solution such as calcium ions will, under the right pH conditions, polymerise the viscous liquid, thus forming a solid polymer film which surrounds the oil and isolates it from the surrounding environment.

Abstract: An organic oil boom is a method for containing pollution floating on water or the sea. The invention describes a method that makes it possible to isolate pollution as, for example, oil, from the surrounding environment. Spraying a viscous liquid such as an alginate or chitosan solution over and around the oil results in isolation of the oil from the seawater as the mixture has a density that is lighter than seawater and heavier than oil. To isolate the oil also from the air, a gas is added so that the density of the mixture is lower than the density of the oil. The addition of a multivalent cation solution such as calcium ions will, under the right pH conditions, polymerise the viscous liquid, thus forming a solid polymer film which surrounds the oil and isolates it from the surrounding environment.

Abstract: A method of feeding aquatic organisms with an artificial food. The food is in the form of microcapsules having an outer permeable polymeric shell of chitosan or alginate and an inner core of liquid food for the aquatic organism. The method involves introducing the microcapsules into an aquatic environment where they are available to be consumed by the organism. The shells of the microcapsules consist of a single polymer, the liquid food has a dry matter content comprising water-soluble, hydrolyzed proteins, peptides and amino acids, and the capsules are arranged to leak the liquid food into the aquatic environment through the shell such that at least 40% of the dry matter content remains in the capsules once the leakage has substantially ceased.

Abstract: A method of encapsulating a product to make capsules is disclosed; each capsule (12) is comprised of a shell (10) which holds the product and is formed of polymeric material which consists substantially totally of a single polymer. A method of encapsulating comprises forming droplets (4) of a liquid mixture of the product and a single suitable prepolymer and then exposing the droplets to a polymerising medium (8) for the prepolymer so as to polymerise the outer surfaces of the droplets, thereby forming the shells and thus the desired capsules (12). An alternative method is disclosed in which the method of encapsulating comprises forming shells containing no product by exposing droplets of a prepolymer to a polymerising medium for the prepolymer, so as to polymerise the outer surfaces of the droplets and thus form the shells and exposing these shells to an environment containing the product, and causing or allowing the product to diffuse through and into the shells, thus forming the desired capsules.