When magnetite nanoparticles are are coated with polyvinylpyrrolidone, they can be used as a highly effective oil removal technology. According to experiments done by Seyyedali Mirshahghassemi and Jamie R. Lead, they can remove lower molecular weight hydrocarbons found in oil with an efficiency of 100% and higher molecular weight hydrocarbons with a rate of over 45%. They not only were highly effective under pristine conditions, but the researchers showed the nanoparticles can remain effective under many different conditions. These conditions included high purity water and artificial sea water with and without fulvic acid.
It is observed in this paper, that the nanoparticles can absorb 30 times its own mass, which indicates that it would be efficient to use on a large scale. However, this technology would be difficult to produce in large quantities, making it slightly less viable without further research to refine the synthesis.This issue could also be resolved by stockpiling this compound, since it would be stable enough to store for long periods of time.
For more information, read the paper Oil Recovery from Water under Environmentally Relevant Conditions Using Magnetic Nanoparticles published in Environmental Science & Technology