10
mosaic—winter 2020
Change-Makers: At
age 14, Kiera Hui wants to create a cleaner world for her generation. And she’s off to a great start. For her eighth grade science project, she developed a plan to better protect the environment. Her project made it to the Toronto Science Fair last year – it then went on to compete in the Canada-Wide Science Fair. Her experiment? An alternative way to clean up oil spills and reduce waste. Kiera attends Spring Garden Baptist Church in Toronto with her family. Her love for God’s creation and science inspired her to dig deeper to find an innovative way to conserve the environment. “When I researched oil spills, many methods used harmful chemicals or released carbon dioxide into the environment, adding to global warming,” she says. “Many previous projects looked at cotton fibres compared to sawdust or other products, and cotton always seemed best.”
KIERA HUI CHANGE-MAKER FROM CANADA
by Kristine Brackman
“Our world is constantly being challenged, and despite all that we know to conserve and reuse, very few people actually do it. I hope to be an example to others by being innovative and bringing big ideas to fruition.”
Kiera found that recycled cotton textile cloths could absorb oil without retaining the water – performing better than cotton balls, which absorbs the water along with the oil. Since 85 percent of textiles end up in landfills, using discarded cotton garments addresses two environmental issues at once: waste reduction and mitigating pollution. According to the United Nations, over half a million children under the age of five die from air-pollution-related causes every year. Her experiment was one that wasn’t easy to prove, but her perseverance won her a silver medal in the Canada-Wide Science Fair held in Fredericton last May. Through her experiment, Kiera also discovered that oil-soaked cloths could be repurposed as igniters, pending further research. In the future, she wants to find a way to reduce soap and laundry detergent use, which could help increase algae blooms in lake water. Although Kiera travelled to a different province to showcase her successful project, Kiera knows she doesn’t need to go far to spark change. “My hope for the world is for a cleaner environment for our generation,” she says. “Our world is constantly being challenged, and despite all that we know to conserve and reuse, very few people actually do it. I hope to be an example to others by being innovative and bringing big ideas to fruition; I also hope other youth will express their ideas to the public and know that it is a true possibility for it to become a reality.”
INTRODUCTION ABSTRACT
Oil spills are a common and serious problem that negatively affects the ocean environment. This environmental disaster requires innovation to clean up oil spills, which are primarily in oceans. It poses a risk to our environment, our drinking water supply as well as the marine biosystem.
Two main environmental concerns are oil spill cleanup and overflowing landfills due to textile waste. This experiment investigated the effectivity of absorbing oil using various cotton materials. Recycled cotton cloths were most efficient textile, which amassed oil without removing excess water. Diverting textiles for oil spill cleanup is one method to protect the environment.
Oil spills can most commonly occur in 4 areas as shown in the infographic. There are currently methods for cleaning up oil spills but often involve chemicals which are harmful to the environment by polluting our air and water and affect birds and ocean life.
PURPOSE
Using materials to soak up oil and leave the water is the best solution that remains environmentally friendly. Many experiments utilized absorbent natural materials like sawdust, clay, and raw cotton to clean up oil spills. Cotton balls were often the best natural material that was able to soak up oil, float on water and pose no harm to the environment.
The purpose of this experiment was to determine whether recycled cotton textiles are as effective in absorbing oil spills as cotton ball fibers. This would allow recycling of cotton textiles to be diverted from garbage dumps and utilized for cleaning oil spills on water in a safe and environmentally friendly way.
Another area to tackle is textile waste. 85% of textiles are thrown away into the garbage and 81 pounds of textiles are in landfills every year! Since there are so many cotton garments that are thrown away into garbage dumps, many people are looking to repurpose clothing, towels and rags into other useful items or utilizing the fibers to make other items.
The experiment will use 3 different cotton items: cotton balls, cloths and towels. They are all made from 100% natural cotton with the main difference being the fibers density and absorption. The cloth and towel will from recycled material. The experiment will test which type of cotton may work best at picking up oil while conserving the water.
Since most garments are made of cotton fibers, it may be purposeful to solve two problems. If the abundance of textiles may be diverted from fast-growing landfills to be used for cleaning up oil spills, then the environment will benefit because we have recycled. Even harvesting new cotton or developing chemical sponge to clean up oil uses chemicals and energy resources, which affect our environment. The oil soaked cotton textile pieces may be used for other purposes like fire igniters so there may be investigation into tertiary uses.
HYPOTHESIS If cotton balls have been shown to be effective in absorbing oil into its fibers, then cotton textiles which are denser and organized cotton fibers should absorb an equal or increased amount of oil than cotton balls.
RESPONDING TO OIL SPILLS AT SEA DISPERSION
Chemical dispersion is achieved by applying chemicals designed to remove oil from the water surface by breaking the oil into smaller droplets.
BURNING
Also referred to as in situ burning, this is the method of setting fire to freshly spilled oil, usually while still floating on the water surface. BOOMS Booms are long, floating barriers used to contain or prevent the spread of spilled oil.
SKIMMING
Skimming is achieved with boats equipped with a floating skimmer designed to remove thin layers of oil from the surface, often with the help of booms.
Last year, 14-year-old Kiera Hui won a silver medal in the Canada-Wide Science Fair for finding an alternative way to clean up oil spills and reduce waste.
ABSORBENT PARTICLES Solidify the oil into pieces to be picked up.
CHEMICALLY DEVELOPED SPONGES
Created by scientists that can soak up oil and float on water.
OVERFLOWING LANDFILLS
85% of textiles are thrown into the garbage and 81 pounds go to landfills every year!
Textiles thrown into landfills can take 2-5 months (cotton) or 40-50 years (leather) to decompose.
