After repeated requests to get some tainted sand, tar balls and water from the Gulf Shore, we were finally able to obtain a sample of seawater, directly from the beach in Biloxi. We were also given some "tar balls" that turned out to be oil tainted debris (a piece of press board and a piece of a stick) as well as clay balls. We soaked the clay balls in a 20:1 solution of Do-ALL #18 and they were nothing more than sand by the end of the week, no longer holding the original shape as a clod.

What was really interesting though is the water we received from the "safe" beach. When the water sample is allowed to settle, there is a sediment layer across the bottom of the bottle. When shaken, the sediment reveals itself to be small oil droplets, lots of them. We added added Do-ALL #18 at 10:1 by weight to half of the supplied water (the remainder saved to show what we started with) with some surprising results. See below:

	We sent requests via Facebook to residents living along the Gulf Coast in Louisiana, Alabama and Florida's Panhandle for water samples, tar balls and oil contaminated sand, no one responded. Local residents heading to the affected areas were asked to bring back samples...again nothing. We kept getting responses that the beaches were clean, the water was clear in Alabama, Mississippi and Louisiana yet every day we are reading about how dirty the beaches are...all confusing. Finally, we had someone just walk out into the surf in Biloxi and grab us a water sample in a clear water bottle. To the left is what we got. At first glance, it is just yellowish water with a bit of sediment on the bottom but when we shook it up the sediment turned into little oil droplets, LOTS of them. Finally, something we could work with. See what we found below (click on any picture for a larger version).
Thom took half the sample and put it into another container, then weighed it.	To get a 10:1 mixture of seawater to Do-ALL #18, we weighed out a sample of Do-ALL that was 1/10th of the weight of the water and added it to the bottle.
When we agitated the bottle, the first strange thing happened. Normally Do-ALL #18 will foam up a little bit, but never like this. The suds filled up all available air space in the bottle.	The second strange occurrence was what we found the next morning. The water was slightly clearer than the original sample (still dingy yellow) but we do not know what the sediment on the bottom is. There was way too little oil in the sample to make this large of a cloud. Our only un-scientific conclusion is that the Do-ALL emulsified the Corexit dispersant in the water.
The sediment layer is fairly thick and the only thing we added to the water was the small amount of Do-ALL #18.	Frankly we are astounded by this. Without a lab for testing, our only theory is that the Do-ALL #18 separated the Corexit from the water.

In contrast, mixing Do-ALL #18 with a gas/oil mixture and salt water from Ft. Lauderdale beach causes the oil to break down at the surface. Further degradation is halted by a closed container.	Same experiment in tap water, water color is slightly different due to chemicals in the water. The consistency of the black line is like colored water.

Now, if our hunch is correct, we may have found a way to remove pollution caused to the Gulf water caused by the wide-spread use of the highly toxic Corexit 9500 and worse, the Corexit 9527. Knowing that Do-ALL #18 breaks down the long hydrocarbon chains in oils and oil by-products, would it not make sense that it would also break down the petroleum distillates in Corexit? If this is the case, we need to determine if Do-ALL #18 breaks down the Corexit to a level digestible to microbes and bacteria in the same manner as it does with crude oil. Seeing that the sediment falls to the bottom of the sample instead of floating like our oil samples do, a creative way of vacuuming this sediment up would be needed.

We do not have the resources or expertise for proper chemical evaluations of these samples. If there is a lab out there presently testing the water samples (and there are quite a few) who would be interested in duplicating our test, we would be more than happy to provide Do-ALL #18 to you.

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Disclaimer

DO-ALL #18® is on the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's NCP Product Schedule. This listing does not mean that EPA approves, recommends, licenses, certifies, or authorizes the use of DO-ALL #18® on an oil discharge. This listing means only that data have been submitted to EPA as required by subpart J of the National Contingency Plan, Sec. 300.915.