Abstract: One or more water- and oil-porous containers or sacks are made of a pair of mesh sheets affixed together and stiffened around their perimeter. The sacks can be partially filled with a multitude of tubular bodies made of an oil-entrapping polymer, which have their longest dimension parallel to an axial hole. A preferred material is composed of a combination of SBS and EPDM, formed by an extrusion technique, to create highly fissured generally cylindrical bodies. The sacks may be deployed in areas where oil is floating on water, such as where oil has spilled from tankers on oceans, seas, lakes, or rivers. When the bodies are afloat, oily water can pass through the axial holes of and around the bodies, maximizing the surface area contacted by the oil and minimizing gel blocking. After a time sufficient for the bodies in the sacks to adsorb oil, the sacks can be collected. Various deployment and collection methods are disclosed.

Abstract: An oil-sorbent composition of matter has bound combinations of styrene-butadiene-styrene (SBS) and ethylene propylene diene monomer (EPDM). The SBS, or both materials, may be in the form of multitudes of granules. In certain preferred embodiments, the combination is 10-30% by weight and the SBS is about 30% styrene and manufactured without talc. The composition of matter can be formed into a solid, compliant body and utilized in a product for absorbing oil. The body can be formed, in one preferred embodiment, into an extended cylinder having an axial hole.

Abstract: An oil-sorbent composition of matter has bound combinations of styrene-butadiene-styrene (SBS) and ethylene propylene diene monomer (EPDM). The SBS, or both materials, may be in the form of multitudes of granules. In certain preferred embodiments, the combination is 10-30% by weight and the SBS is about 30% styrene and manufactured without talc. The composition of matter can be formed into a solid, compliant body and utilized in a product for absorbing oil. The body can be formed, in one preferred embodiment, into an extended cylinder having an axial hole.

Abstract: A method and apparatus for continuously removing oil from oil-bearing solids such as tar sands, vegetables or other solid materials using a solvent is provided. By providing a pressure differential between the exterior and interior of an oil extraction chamber, substantially oil free solids may be removed from the oil extraction chamber through a solids extraction channel without removing any substantial volume of solvent through the solids extraction channel.

Abstract: A plurality of water- and oil-porous sacks are partially filled with a number of generally toroidal bodies of a polymer material that entraps oil and including mesh fragments scattered throughout the bodies. Each sack is sewn with a perimeter stiffening ring, to retain a flat profile, and has a netting that closes to help inhibit outflow of the oil when the sack is retrieved. When deployed from ship or by air onto a spill, the sacks spread into a pancake shape and the polymer matter forms a single layer that retains the oil. The inventive sacks will float indefinitely without releasing the oil or allowing it to emulsify, so the oil can remain in place until collection efforts are feasible. The sacks can be burned in situ, or standard fishing boats or specialized collection boats can be used to retrieve the sacks, and the collected material can be burned to capture the energy content of the oil or processed to separate the oil from the polymer.

Abstract: A method for removing petroleum contaminants from larger-size and smaller-size petroleum-bearing earth-like materials using a movable apparatus.

Abstract: Greenhouse plants are displayed on horizontal shelves supported between side rails extending at an angle between vertical support posts, the posts being interconnected in pairs between confronting vertical grooves formed in the posts. Each shelf is assembled from elongated sections held in parallel spaced relation to each other by spacers at the longitudinal ends of the shelf which are received within grooves formed in the side rails.