• Prof. Rajapakse said the new invention would be available for the authorities free of charge at this crucial hour

By Chamil Rupasinghe - Kandy   

A team of professors from the Peradeniya University have worked out a mechanism to collect and recover the oil leaking out from the wreckage of the MV-Xpress  Pearl. 

 The team comprising Senior Prof. Gamini Rajapakse of the Chemical Science Faculty, Prof.Amarasena of the Post Graduate Institute and Prof.T.R.A. Kumara of the Hanthana Basic Education Institute who had been conducting research on the subject for a considerable time.   

Prof. Gamini Rajapakse said graphite from the Bogala mines would be mixed with several other substances to devise a apparatus in the form of a long mattress that would absorb the oil layer. He said a gram of graphite could absorb 120grams of oil. He said they had already received letters of patent for their invention.   
 He said they invented this method with the help of the Sri Lanka NANO Technology institute and the Bogala mines. Prof. Rajapakse said the new invention would be available for the authorities free of charge at this crucial hour.   “Oil collected through this apparatus could be extracted by compressing the mattress and filtered for use. Now we are experimenting a method of transferring the stock of oil on the ill fated ship to another ship with the help of American experts now in the country to work out a mechanism on the feasibility of removing the stock of oil from the wrecked ship before it leaks into the sea.   

As we understand the ship had on board a large quantity of substance containing lead which would cause irreparable environmental pollution if allowed to leak into the sea. A ton of lead would take about 700 years to reduce to half a ton by dilution and the rest another 700 years to dilute,” he further said.