Currently, there are only three V20 centrifuge machines currently operational in the Gulf. Ten more should become operational within weeks. Once production at the factory ramps up in July, our supplier will be able to produce 10 machines a month. They are currently ramping up production of new machines with a goal toward deploying the machines along the entire coast.

The oil separation machines are sophisticated centrifuge devices that can handle a huge volume of water and separate oil at unprecedented rates. The company's founder has been funding a team of scientists for the last 15 years to develop a technology which could be used for massive oil spills.

The machines are taken out into the spill area via large boats and barges, where they can separate the oil and water. The machines come in different sizes, the largest of which, the V20, can clean water at a rate of 200 gallons per minute. Depending on the oil to water ratio, the machine has the ability to extract 2,000 barrels of oil a day from the Gulf. Once separation has occurred, the oil is stored in tanks. The water is then more than 99% clean of crude.

Although BP has already ordered 32 of the machines, many more are needed to help with the cleanup effort. While a great deal of damage has already been done in the Gulf, these oil extraction machines could still mitigate much of the problem.

It's not too late … the oil slick is going to keep coming towards the beaches and the people that live there. That leaking well still has not stopped. So we have to be out at the source, sucking it up. We have to treat the spill a little bit like war. We have to muster every resource we can to keep the oil from hitting any more of our beaches.