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June 7th, 2010
10:00 AM ET
21-year-old's oil leak idea caught BP's eye
(CNN) – She started her engineering Ph.D when she was 14-years-old, was the youngest-ever college professor at 18-years-old, and has received fellowships from NASA and the Department of Defense. Her name is Alia Sabur and she has an idea to fix the oil gusher at the bottom of the Gulf of Mexico. She joined us on Monday's American Morning to discuss her idea, which has got the attention of BP and the Coast Guard.
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Best idea I have heard comes from Micheal Quick:Master plumber.I have installed irrigation wells for many years.your idea is not only feasible/possible but should have already been done.the ball valve however should be replaced with remote controlled from the surface gate valves and several of them doing what the rams would have done inside that 5story high preventer failed to do.each gate valve would close off upward pressure a little%at a time as where a ball valve could be shut closed instantly with the immense pressure being 9000psi or more.don't get me wrong your idea beats any other idea i have seen so far.its just my opinion that gate valves would be more feasible to control by a gear that is operated by remote control.we cant get a diver down there to do anything. so all of this will have to be assembled on the surface.and then attached to that flange below that sorry arse cut they made.below that cut pipe lies the answer if they had the power to cut that pipe they also have the power being the hydraulic tools to use instead of a band saw with a wire diamond cutter they can yous the same hydraulic energy to run a socket wrench to fit those flange bolts.take off those bolts and re bolt a new pipe same as the riser pipe they cut off.but this newly attached pipe will have the gate valves.keeping the pipe open until it reaches the surface.therefore no restriction to just blow it off.
BP has given up!!! Why is this not all over the news??? Tony Hayward, BP’s CEO, said yesterday on C-SPAN that they had stopped pursuing any other methods for containment and is relying solely on the relief well efforts. This means they have given up!!! BP plans to let the oil flow into the gulf for 2 more months and possibly more as relief wells are no guarantee!!! BP knows this which is why they are drilling two of them!!!
Our government needs to take responsibility of containment away from BP and give it to the 3 largest oil producers with government oversight to work together to cap the well. To assist this there needs to be a few stipulations: BP would be required to pay time and materials for the efforts of the other companies, the other companies that assist will not be held financially responsible if matters get worse, and BP’s exposure will not increase past the current estimated damages of no action until the relief well is drilled in the case the actions of the 3 companies make matters worse. The three companies would represent the industry and is purposely an odd number so the engineers from the 3 companies can vote without having a tie.
WE HAVE TO KEEP TRYING. THE WELL MUST BE CAPPED!!!!
The flow needs stopped, not collected. Step 1: Remove the short pipe that was cut by removing the bolts around the flange that holds it in place. Step 2: Attach a valve with a flange on both ends to the existing flange where the short/cut pipe was just removed. Keep the valve open to minimize any upwards force on the valve during installation. Step 3: Slowly close the valve until the flow stops. Step 4: Attach a permanent cap/dome on the valve to the other flange. Step 5: Encase everything in concrete or other material that will provide another permanent seal.
An upside down closed umbrella type plug that could be opened to block off the hole once inside is the answer.
Can't we just use the Might Putty? I thought that was suppose to stop leaks. What is her idea does not work and I have an idea, where would I go to give my idea?
I am a Master Plumber with over 38 years of experience. I have tried to get BP, CNN, FOX and others to review my 6 pages of detailed instructions to stop or fully control the leak. I have experience solving this type of problem. I have made it extremely easy for the organizations mentioned above to check my qualifications and reputation. I am begining to wander if BP might prefer letting the oil flow. Some say that BP maintains full control as long as the leak continues. They might prefer enjoying the free pass to drill two more deep wells. My 6 page plan should be easy. 1. attach a bottom collar under the flange, 2. Attach a top collar over the flange. These collars are horse shoe shaped-so they can be attached to the flange out of the turbulant flow that makes work very difficult. I designed a Teflon seal that would help provide a 100% seal after part 2 of my detailed instructions is completed and stabalized. Part 2 is a 24" or larger pipe that would easyily slid over the rough cut 22" pipe that is blowing oil. Part 2 (the "FIX PIPE") would be prefrabricated above water. A full flow valve (Preferably a BALL VALVE) would be attached to the top end of the 24" "FIX PIPE". The opposite (bottom) end of the "FIX PIPE" would have a flange welded on so it would attach to the previously mentioned (and installed) collar. A Teflon seal on the bottom of the "FIX PIPE" flange, would connect with the Teflon seal attached to the collar secured to the old flange. Please help force BP to stop this flow. If it is true that they fear a blow out if the oil pressure is allowed to build up-my "FIX PIPE" could have a connection mounted on the top to allow oil flow to a barge. If it is OK to turn the oil flow (and gas flow) 100% off, the full flow valve attached to the top of the "FIX PIPE" could be turned off 100% after it is properly attached to the collar. They key to my plan is 1. My collar would provide a very stable foundation for attaching the "FIX PIPE", 2. The oversized "FIX PIPE" with the full flow valve attached would allow full flow while the "FIX PIPE" is being lowered. Turbulance from the blowing oil would flow thru and around the "FIX PIPE" while the work is being done. Scientists are not use to dealing with broken pipes, turbulance and difficult working conditions. Some plumbers are experienced with broken pipes and some plumbers are just experienced with installing pipes. PLEASE FOCUS on the SPECIALIZED PLUMBERS that are use to improvising and making the best use of pieces left over after a break. If you read this please help make BP and the media FOCUS on the right experts. This is not rocket science, This is PLUMBING.
A letter sent to The President 6/8.10-- The oil leak can be totally controlled in half a week. Replacing the flange atop the BOP with a riser is absolutely possible,even in that blast. A pre-assembled guide-four 40 ft pcs drill pipe- with widely connected top ends, and solidly mounted on the BOP flange below,will steer the new riser perfectly, over the drill pipe stub and down, with tapered pins, precisely for bolting. A tee with 2 valves and 2 lines to the surface completes it, redundantly accomplishing more than the cap, only with positively no leaking at all. After working the giant shear, these tasks, including clamping before unbolting, and trimming projections on the flange, etc. are comparatively simple for the robot operators. Please hurry.--- All the TV news has totally no mention of flange bolts. This copy to you and others, if nothing more, is to focus there. No immediate and complete stoppage of that volcano is possible without it. Enough voices like yours can make it happen!
Thank you for your consideration,
BUILD IT NOW! Her idea is very creative! She should be the next CNN Hero! I nominate ALIA SABUR as an American Hero!
I suggest that to recover the oil that is already in the Gulf of Mexico, the government declare that the oil is an unclaimed product and is free to the people, companies or anyone who has the equiptment and/or the abilty to remove the oil from the ocean. The government should also not be able t claim the oil because they spilled it and is causing this huge disaster in the Gulf. In the event there are regulations in place that allows a company that accidentally spills oil on our shores to claim the spilled oil, The President should immediately declare that this spill was not accidental and therefore this was not allow BP to recapture the oil. I for some unknown reason this is somehow considered to be an accidental spill, the President should rescind that regulation by Presidential decree so that the oil can be retrieved by everyone.
Additionally, for the oil that has already washed up on the beaches, allow individuals to go out and scoop up the oil on the beaches and sell it back to not only BP but any oil company willing to buy it and refine it. The cost wouold be based on the current barrel price.
I have the leak fix 90 percent sure. I work with large sheets of rubber called EPDM. these sheets can be factory sealed together to make large pieces. These pieces can be 1000 feet long by any width. Seam these pieces together to make a flexible tube as wide as possible.
Second lower guide wires from a ship and anchor the lines in a circle around the leak to the ocean surface. next lower the EPDM flexible tube to the bottom and anchor the rubber to the ocean floor.
This will create a solid seal on the bottom all the way to the surface of the ocean. The oil will be contained inside the flexible pipe.
Next suck up the oil from the surface. easy.
It is obvious that the experts are not fixing the problem! They need to listen to more people and get the problem fixed! Wat to go Alia, doesn't matter what the colour of your hair is, they should listen to all ideas, even if you are not an expert!
Very surprised this made the "news".
This is not a new idea; packers like this have been used in the oil industry for over 30 years. I bet BP engineers considered it, but under current conditions not an option.
It’s a good idea and could possibly work; what concerns me is the well-head pressure and flow volume. My guess is that the whole “packer” assembly would be blown out or ripped out when the gaskets were inflated. One thing that’s a necessity seems to be a larger escape route to prevent pressure build-up but not large enough to allow icing from temperature drop encountered in a closed system… Like air conditioning expansion chambers.
My solution would be to remove most of the bolts on the remaining upper flange leaving 2 or 3 in place and adding an additional custom flange connecting a larger pipe to the top assembly. There would (and should) be some leakage due to the lack of proper gasket but it would allow harvesting more of the spill.
Even more of the leakage and possibly almost all of it could be collected by having an oversized funnel fitted to the new riser. If the funnel had a skirt that extended substantially below the new connection and a top collection port located at a high point off-center it could conceivably contain and harvest the oil blowing by the imperfect new connection.
I favor an imperfect connection to allow a pressure release and prevent pressure build-up. Of course erosion would be a problem but it should hold long enough to allow the relief wells to be completed.
If anyone’s interested I have some rough drawings which should answer any concerns.
I’ve heard that BP can only harvest a limited amount because of the size of the tanker(s) used to store what they’re catching now. Perhaps I’m missing something but surely they have access to more and/or larger tankers. To me more accurate I’m sure I’m missing something; I can’t for the life of me understand why they’re allowing so much to escape. It seems to be in their favor to control this thing but I get the impression they’re reacting to all of it with a shrug of their collective shoulders! We’re all missing some vital, basic, economic factor here that BP is fully aware of but not sharing; it just doesn’t make sense!
Hahaha that tickles............ People saying that they come up with it first, come on man if you came up with it first i guess you should have sold it a bit better, or you would be on tCNN, everybody always wants a piece of someone elses glory moment
It is going to take this kind of "out of the box" thinking to fix this problem. I would have though that BP would have already had a solution for this but they are only concerned about getting the oil out. than protecting the environment. Obama should have gathered the best engineering minds in the country to come up with a solution. This is a national disaster that will require the best brains to come up with a solution.
Apparently a very simple idea that they must have thought of, these people working at BP aren't dumb as it might seem from previous failures.
I wonder how she could start on her Ph.D at the age of 14(!). Do you just start writing a document at that age?.
The problem as it exist at the moment is that the top hat solution is still leaking a large quantity of oil due to it's weak seal. It is resting on a flange however which could make for a great seal with just a bit of machining and engineering. The flange is a rather smooth area with a known diameter. It would take some machining but a system could be quickly built that fits over the pipe stub and down around the existing flange and hydraulically
latches applying both down and side pressure to completely seal the leak.
The solution is not that simple we are talking about a outlet pressure of nearly 9 thousand psi. The top hat procedure that they are working with right now is a good solution however a little bit of engineering would make it a great solution.
Sure you did Tom Jennens. LOL
Give the young gal some credit. I'm sure they have SEVERAL options that WILL work. They need to let every one of the ideas at least try before saying "NO".
Good idea young lady !!!
It is time BP started using some new ideas to cap this runaway oil well,
My sugestion would be to run coils around the riser and pump liqiud nitrogen thru them and FREEZE the oil in the pipe,cold does grate things,it freezes water pipes,propane will not run at 40 -50 below,oil will not run out of a can at the same temp,sewer lines freeze in the ground,rivers even freeze solid when it gets cold enough,you may have guessed I am from Canada.
Good Luck in fixing the leak.
CNN would be well advised to retain the services of experienced oil & gas industry engineers to comment on proposals before they air simplistic ideas as proposed by Ms. Sabur. No offense to Ms. Sabur, but having a PhD and being a "professor" at a young age does not make you knowledgable in seal design. I challenge CNN to contact any major seal or packer manufacturer and ask for their comments on Ms. Sabur's design. It is neither unique or profound.
I am dismayed at the damages this leak is doing to the environment; but apart from a few corporate beancounters, I am confident that all BP employees and other participants in the oil & gas industry want a successful conclusion as quickly as possible.
The oil Industry has used inflatable air bladders in slurry pumps (oil, semi-solids, etc,,, are considered slurry) for decades. Depending on the condition of the well casing, putting an inflatable membrane of any sort in the well at this depth, might cause damage to the casing, resulting in an even more catastrophic flow of oil. If there were a way to assure that the well casing were intact, and if a suitable 'bladder' material capable of sustaining positive pressure at such depths could be identified, this might be a reasonable solution. Personally, I favored a junk shot using heavy ball bearings as the media to fill us as much space as possible, and then fill in the difference with drilling mud.
People just dont get it B.P. does not want to stop the leak unless they can harvest the oil and if they dam up the leak then they can not harvest the oil there deeds are all self centerd .
At 5000 feet below the surface, the pressure is already enormous. So, how will you actually do the pumping for compression against the walls of both pipes..... exactly?
You would need a closed system pump and pressure assembly that could be lowered with the pipe attached to the apparatus in advance. If pressure could be generated from a reservoir of fluid at 5000 feet, only then could this pressure system work. You cannot pump fluid from the surface down there most likely. When pumping the hydraulic fluid to the tires, a valve would have to open such that sea water would fill the reservoir void created by the pumping...........
Why not use a big sheet metal screw wrapped in teflon tape. It would be more predictable. But hey, I'm no engineer so, what would I know anyway?
kw
1) – Simplest Fix – Replace old flange and attached broken (now snipped) pipe at top of BOP – has " hex nuts" – with new flange and associated pipe to surface.
Unscrewing "hex nuts" and replacing with new outer flange should make non leaking connection to surface collection.
Once again do not use dispersants into leaking oil so can be collected by tankers at at surface – where are they ?
This could have been done after the smoke cleared (day 2) and this disaster avoided ...
p.s. It is unfathomable how this was not done.
I submitted almost the same solution to BP about 10 days ago. Never heard a word, now she is on the news with the same solution. It doesn't make sense.
Respectfully, Ms. Sabur's innovative idea is called a "pneumatic packer". Packer technology has been used in the drilling industry for many years.
Hire her! I can stop it.... 50 days is long enough to listen to Allen and his Co., BP..
Do something you are the voice of the people. Everyday there are people on your net work with solutions. Give someone a chance. Allen is a total failure and is in bed with BP......
Concerned,
Kathleen Fincher
You have people on TV everyday with more sensible solutions.
Hire people that are going to be pro active in this disaster. Get rid of Allen he is in bed with BP. Probably on their payroll. I see all these people on TV with solutions. Give them a chance.! Bp and Allen have failed bitterly. No more excuses only results........
B P is only interested in recovering the oil for profit. They are not concerned with capping, 50 days for stupidity is enough.. They are probably restructuring their company as we speak to avoid the cost and law suits.
Concerned, Kathleen Fincher
Young lady, I would patent your idea very quickly before BP takes your idea and cashes it in. Very good idea! Go for it!