selling tar balls -- an aside

[ensho]

I heard that some people down on Duval Street in Key West were selling tar balls to tourists.

oi vey

[mikelgb]

1. black gold?

[ensho]

2. lol

nt

[Liberal In Texas]

3. Are these tourists who can't find the beach?

A Key West tourist and his money...

[Skidmore]

4. Seriously, can tar balls be collected and

refined? If so, why not do so?

[MineralMan]

7. Yeah, they could, and some of the spill will probably end up

being refined. However, the cost of collecting tar balls and refining them is pretty prohibitive, given the price of a barrel of oil. Refineries don't like sand and debris in their oil, I'm pretty sure.

[Statistical]

8. No.

You might be able to make asphalt or tar from them but not gasoline, diesel, kerosene, etc.

Oil is basically a hydrocarbon soup it isn't a single "thing".

Tarball is what is left when lighter hydrocarbons separate out essentially "refining" happened in the ocean. The crude oil seperates into various hydrocarbon types.

[Skidmore]

9. So, A thought that could help employ people perhaps

since asphalt and tar could perhaps be derived from them. First, if the oil is lying on the beach, it no longer belongs to BP and finder's keepers. Second, asphalt and tar would be of benefit to infrastructure repair. Use it to put people to work that have been cleaned out by this corporation. They forfeited the right to profit from that drilling operation.

[Statistical]

10. Yeah however as someone else said I doubt any refinery wants it.

Sand, dirt, impurities can damage multi-billion dollar refineries. Asphalt and tar really are the waste from refining. The reason we use them is the same reason grocery store sells pigs feet. Nobody really wants them but if you butcher a pig you will end up with some pigs feet might as well sell them for something.

Still it is a good question. What "do" you do with all that waste oil products?

[Winterblues]

5. Doesn't the US get a royalty from the oil?

:shrug:

[RobinA]

6. I, For One,

am not buying any souvenier tarballs that aren't certified authentic, Deepwater Horizon Crude. No run-of-the-mill tarball for me.

[blindpig]

11. I'll take a truckload...

I know what to do with them...

[Dont TS Me Brah]

12. well...

considering those people have their jobs pulled out from under them... they need to do ANYTHING to earn a buck. Until BP's checks start coming in...