Seshadri Ramkumar, Texas Tech University, USA
Biodegradable non-woven composite oil absorbent mats have been launched. Micro plastics and marine pollution have been gaining global attention, in addition to oil spill accidents. Chennai, India based WellGro Tech has recently brought biodegradable and environmentally benign oil absorbent mats to the market.
Oil absorbent mats are predominantly synthetic based and with increasing awareness on issues with marine pollution by plastics, WellGro Tech has come up with non-synthetic absorbent mats.Sustainable absorbent pads and mats are devoid of plastics and can be reused multiple times. The company has tested the product in two leading research and testing laboratories in India.
Results show that as per ASTM standard, when tested using motor oil, the mat could absorb oil 13 times its weight and the cumulative absorption will be much higher, as the mats can be reused. According to the company, the same mat can be used at a very minimum twenty times.
Tests undertaken using ASTM and AATCC standards show that the mat and the oil soaked mat degrade and show strength loss, an indicator of degradation.Mr. Venkatakrishnan Ramanujan, President of WellGro Tech, who is marketing the biodegradable mats told this scribe that the effort to develop environmentally friendly oil absorbent mats has been successful with positive third party tests carried out by two accredited laboratories.
WellGro Tech is focused on export markets, where the awareness of using biodegradable oil absorbent technologies is more. Venkatakrishnan is actively seeking marketing collaborations to promote and take the product to global customers. Venkatakrishnan stated that the product is ready and just waiting for export orders.
