Skoltech researcher’s solution helps clean up spilled fuel oil in the Black Sea
January 16, 2025
Head of Projects for Development Vladimir Kalyaev from the Skoltech Research Facilities Center’s Fablab proposed a solution for cleaning the Black Sea coast from fuel oil using polypropylene nets. According to Vladimir, one kilogram of the nets traps 25 kilograms of oil products.
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Vladimir Kalyaev and a team from the Ministry of Emergency Situations remove contaminated nets. Credit: Anapskoye Chernomorye

On December 15, 2024, two oil tankers crashed in the Kerch Strait, spilling several tons of fuel oil. The Russian Ministry of Emergency Situations, volunteers and scientists joined efforts to clean up the sea and the coast.

One of the most effective solutions was proposed by Vladimir Kalyaev, the head of projects for development at Fablab of the Skoltech Research Facilities Center, who is personally engaged into installing the nets along the coast. Head of the Kuban-SPAS rescue service Alexander Rekun reported that the solution has successfully passed the tests and now the nets cover longer stretches of the coast.

The team placed steel poles every two meters along the shoreline to hold the nets, rolled the nets tightly and clamped them to the base of the poles, and then stretched the second net around the entire perimeter. This prevents new fuel oil from being washed onto the sand, even during high winds and storms. The denser mass is trapped in the lower part of the nets, while the spatter remains in the upper part.

 “Of the different nets we tried, polyethylene and polypropylene nets were the best. In cold water, both trap fuel oil from the largest particles to those that are invisible to the eye. We use all kinds of barriers with curtains and other floating materials to collect fuel oil, just as fishermen use their nets to catch fish,” Vladimir Kalyaev said in an interview with Izvestia.