Simple Appliances Could Change the World

Blenders, stockpots and dryers have their separate uses in the home. But would you believe that the future of the environment and foreign oil dependency could be influenced by these simple appliances?

Dr. Ben de Mayo, physics professor at UWG, shows an example of his work with oil sands.

University of West Georgia professor Dr. Ben de Mayo received a patent from Canada for a new oil-acquiring system. He envisions the final product will resemble a blender spanning 60 feet across and standing several stories tall. It will function like a clothes dryer and utilize heat and rapid spinning to separate bitumen, an unrefined crude oil, from oil sands.

Currently bitumen is extracted from the sand through a method that de Mayo deems unclean and inefficient. Imagine a giant stockpot of boiling water. The oil-rich sand is dumped into the pot and then sinks to the bottom while the oil floats to the top.

Afterward, the oil is skimmed from the surface of the water like fat from boiled chicken, leaving behind a toxic broth that is dumped into man-made lakes. These highly polluted ponds have the unfortunate side effect of attracting wildlife.