Cleaning Up the BP Gulf Oil Spill
by Deborah Blagg
SOAKING IT IN: Scott Smith has proven the absorbency of his firm's Opflex polymer foam at major oil spills in the Gulf and China.
Last April’s Gulf of Mexico disaster was back on the front pages in early January when the National Commission on the BP Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill released its final report. But at least one HBS graduate needed no reminder of the environmental devastation caused by the tragic explosion. He had already become part of the solution.
Scott C. Smith (MBA ’91) is president and CEO of Cellect Technologies LLC / Opflex Solutions LLC, which manufactures a specialized foam that has proven effective in pollutant absorption both above and beneath the surface of water. Smith has been working closely with fishermen in the Gulf area to help rid the affected waters of the propylene glycol (a chemical found in dispersants), oil sheen, and sub-surface oil that are harming plants, birds, fish, and shrimp. Smith’s planned two-day visit to test his products in the Gulf last May turned into an entire summer working with residents whose lives and livelihoods have been threatened. The experience, he notes, “has impacted my life forever in the most positive way.”
Cellect Technologies / Opflex Solutions is a Cape Cod, Massachusetts-based, environmentally responsible manufacturer of low-carbon impact foams for a variety of uses. Opflex, a reusable foam that is biodegradable, polymeric low density, and buoyant, can be fabricated for many uses, including the oil-snaring booms now being deployed in the Gulf and in the Dalian oil spill in China. Opflex was conceived when oil-contaminated flood waters threatened to shut down Cellect's upstate New York plant in 2006. The spongy green, reusable Opflex was later reformulated to repel water but attract and absorb hydrocarbons, which can be wrung out of the material in a centrifuge or wringer system and safely discarded. (To see Opflex in action, please go to http://www.youtube.com/cellecttech.)
A hands-on executive and sole owner/inventor who doesn’t hesitate to wade hip-deep into oily waters, Smith says he often thinks about “what Dr. Nitin Nohria taught me 20 years ago in OB” about the importance of human interactions. Recently, he attended a rally in Grand Isle, Louisiana, that focused on the health problems shrimp harvesters are experiencing as a result of the spill. “I clearly remember how important Dr. Nohria said OB would become if we were ever to be involved in something that would change the world,” notes Smith, who also is working with the Girl Scouts of the USA Louisiana East to develop an environmental education initiative. “I have been incredibly humbled and honored to be part of all this.”
