REVOLUTIONIZING OIL SPILL CLEANUP
Oil spills have devastating effects on ocean ecosystems and marine life. Catastrophic events like the 2010 Deepwater Horizon disaster in the Gulf of Mexico not only cause severe environmental damage, but also imposes massive financial burdens, impacting the livelihoods of millions.
In response to these challenges, XPRIZE launched the Wendy Schmidt Oil Cleanup XCHALLENGE in 2010. This one-year, $1.4M competition challenged teams to develop breakthrough technologies for removing surface oil from the ocean more efficiently.
Among the competitors, Elastec won the competition using an innovation inspired by something exceedingly simple: a bucket.
FINDING INSPIRATION IN AN UNLIKELY PLACE
Elastec founders Donnie Wilson and Jeff Cantrell stumbled upon their breakthrough technology while attempting to clean an oil pit near their homes in Illinois. Frustrated with the inefficiency of existing methods, they grabbed a five-gallon bucket and tried scooping the oil from the water. When one of them threw the bucket into the oil and water, they noticed something remarkable: as it spun on the surface, oil clung to the bucket while the water shed off. This “eureka” moment led to the development of their first efficient drum oil skimmer.
Yet, before the Wendy Schmidt Oil Cleanup XCHALLENGE, their groundbreaking design was stuck on the back shelves.
“The original drawings for the grooved disc skimmer sat in a dusty box, waiting for the market to accept it. Thanks to the XPRIZE Foundation spurring innovation, those drawings got out of that room and Elastec grooved disc skimmers are now keeping our world clean.” -Elastec team
COMPETING IN—AND WINNING—AN XPRIZE COMPETITION
The Wendy Schmidt Oil Cleanup XCHALLENGE tasked teams with achieving an oil recovery rate (ORR) of over 2,500 gallons per minute (GPM) with an oil recovery efficiency (ORE) of more than 70%.
During the finals at OHMSETT, the National Oil Spill Response Research & Renewable Energy Test Facility, Elastec introduced their grooved disc skimming technology, an evolution of their original drum skimmer. Their technology shattered expectations, reaching 4,670 GPM at 89.5% ORE–more than three times the industry’s previous best oil recovery rate.
After their victory, Popular Mechanics recognized Elastec’s grooved disc oil skimming technology as one of the 10 world-changing innovations in their 2012 Breakthrough Technology Awards. Elastec scaled and developed their winning solution into the X150 Skimmer, which can be deployed on Navy Class V vessels for oil spill responses in open water. They revisited OHMSETT in 2021 to test its real-world application.
For the Elastec team, winning an XPRIZE challenge was nothing short of transformative. They have since expanded their strengths as an environmental services company, and now manufacture oil spill response and environmental equipment such as oil skimmers, containment booms, incinerators, vacuum systems, pumps, power packs, and work boats.
Following the Deepwater Horizon spill, Elastec led controlled burn operations for British Petroleum, removing more oil than any other fire boom systems in the Gulf of Mexico. This earned them the Guinness World Record for “Longest Continuous Burn of Oil Spill at Sea”.
Learn more about Elastec’s incredible story by watching the latest episode of XPRIZE Innovators, and discover how you can get involved in competitions that change the world at xprize.org.