A team at the University of Maryland has discovered that "blue whirl," smaller and more stable flame is possible to clean up oil spills.
"Fire" and "tornado" are probably two of the most terrifying terms you can stick stick together.
Fire tornadoes, also known as "fire whirls," do exist. They typically happen during wildfires and can last a few minutes, though long enough to make significant damage. But a giant, uncontrollable firenado can help a lot.
Traditional fire whirls produced in forest fires or urban fire burn with a yellow color, which occurs when the fire is not able to completely consume its fuel and produces soot. Blue whirls, however, have access to more oxygen and completely combust their fuel, burning quickly and much more cleanly.
According to their paper, as the yellow swirl stabilized and settled into the stable blue phase. They believe that the stable blue whirl forms because of the water barrier.
They also explained that whirls over land reach all the way down to the ground, while over the water blue swirls sits about the liquid's surface. This is likely created by a layer of evaporated fuel mixed with air, giving the flame a nice supply of stable premixed fuel which the spinning vortex sucks up.
The researchers believe that if they could produce a blue whirl, it could burn up the oil without producing sooty emissions in the atmosphere or leaving a mess in the water.
Orrtung reports that the researchers were able to create a stable blue whirl in the lab for about eight minutes, though they believe they could sustain it much longer.
Source: Smithsonian Magazine
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