BEAUFORT, N.C. -- Duke University researchers said today they have developed a process to extract oxygen from sea water, which theoretically will allow humans to stay beneath the ocean surface indefinitely.
Dr. Joseph Bonaventura, director of the Duke Marine Biomedical Center, and his wife, Celia, said they have developed a 'hemosponge,' which they claim will lead to 'artifical gills' that can extract oxygen directly from seawater.
'It provides the potential for opening up for exploration regions of the ocean never accessible before,' Bonaventura said.
Bonaventura said the hemosponge uses hemoglobin, which is the blood component in humans that carries oxygen from the lungs to all parts of the body. The hemoglobin is combined with a prepolymer -- a substance with the consistency and color of golden honey -- to form a sponge substance similar to that in seat cushions.
Bonaventura said the hemosponge is placed in a container. When seawater is passed through the container, oxygen is extracted.
Oxygen can then be siphoned off by drawing a vacuum over the container or it can be released by hitting the sponge with a weak electrical charge, Bonaventura said. By using a two-stage cE:le, one container can extract oxygen from sea water while oxygen is being removed from another container, thus providing a continual supply.
Bonaventura said a container 3 feet in diameter by 9 to 10 feet in length theoretically could provide oxygen to 150 people on the ocean floor.
Bonaventura noted that people now going underwater have to depend on air hoses, oxygen tanks or oxygen produced by battery or nuclear power. He said his process will cut the dependence on such devices.
'Until now, there has been no human-made vehicle that operates under water like fish or sharks,' he said.
Bonaventura said blood for the hemosponge could be obtained from slaughter houses. He said 'overage' blood stored for medical purposes also could be used.
