Which Oil Spill Absorbent Brand Wins?
This head-to-head test of 16 oil spill absorbent options has the measured results for each. See how they ranked and watch the full test video.
Coco Cleaner Pro
Price shown in test: $27
Affiliate link. We may earn a commission at no extra cost to you.
The quick take
No single winner was declared in this test. Here is where the top-ranked pick landed, straight from the measured results.
Best in 4 of 5 measurements, including Granule oil absorption, Paper towel oil residue ranking and Antifreeze/water absorption.
The measured results
Every number below is read straight from the test. Products are listed in the order they finished.
Antifreeze/water absorption (g)
- 1Coco Cleaner Pro237.67 g1st
absorbed (267 g total weight), 1st place
- 2Zorbentjust over141 g
absorbed (173 g total weight), about the same as Flash Dry
- 3Zepjust over146 g2nd
absorbed (187 g total weight), 2nd place behind Coco Cleaner Pro
- 4Pig granules134.61 g
absorbed (204 g total weight)
- 5Flash Dry granulesjust over141 g
absorbed (189 g total weight), outperformed Spill Hero
- 6Spill Herojust over105 g
absorbed (143 g total weight)
- 7Dr. Elsey's cat litter142 g
absorbed (448 g total weight), did much better on antifreeze than on oil
- 8Oil Drijust under84 g
absorbed (255 g total weight)
- 9Pig pad/mats260.59 g1st
absorbed (292 g total weight), 1st place
- 10Spilfyter198.67 g2nd
absorbed (224 g total weight), 2nd place behind Pig
- 11Star Britejust under30 g
absorbed (59 g total weight), about the same as Oil Eater white
- 12Aain23.26 g
absorbed (44 g total weight)
- 13Oil Eater whitejust under30 g
absorbed (48 g total weight)
- 14Okllen133.86 g3rd
absorbed (150 g total weight), best antifreeze result at the time it was tested, finished 3rd overall
- 15Flashdry padjust under22 g
absorbed (37 g total weight), the weakest antifreeze result of the pads
- 16Oil Eater gray79.62 g
absorbed (92 g total weight)
Granule oil absorption (g)
- 1Coco Cleaner Pro128.67 g1st
(1st place, took lead from Zorbit)
- 2Zorbentjust over104 g
(31.78 g dry to 136 g saturated), took lead from Flash Dry at the time
- 3Zep96.45 g
absorbed (40.55 g dry to 137 g saturated)
- 4Pig granules99.61 g3rd
absorbed (69.39 g dry to 169 g saturated), moved into 3rd place
- 5Flash Dry granules95.51 g
absorbed (143 g saturated), about 3 g better than Spill Hero
- 6Spill Hero92.65 g
absorbed (37.35 g dry to 130 g saturated)
- 7Dr. Elsey's cat litter59 g
absorbed (306 g dry to 365 g), clearly worse than the dedicated absorbents
- 8Oil Dri40.65 g
absorbed (171.36 g dry to 212 g saturated), last place, by far the heaviest dry weight of the granules
- 9Pig pad/matsnot tested
- 10Spilfyternot tested
- 11Star Britenot tested
- 12Aainnot tested
- 13Oil Eater whitenot tested
- 14Okllennot tested
- 15Flashdry padnot tested
- 16Oil Eater graynot tested
Concrete lift ranking (granules)
- 1Coco Cleaner Pro4th place
- 2Zorbent
tied 1st with Spill Hero, based upon looks
- 3Zep3rd place
- 4Pig granules6th place
- 5Flash Dry granules5th place
- 6Spill Hero
tied 1st with Zorbent, based upon looks
- 7Dr. Elsey's cat litter
tied 7th with Oil Dri
- 8Oil Dri
tied 7th with cat litter
- 9Pig pad/matsnot tested
- 10Spilfyternot tested
- 11Star Britenot tested
- 12Aainnot tested
- 13Oil Eater whitenot tested
- 14Okllennot tested
- 15Flashdry padnot tested
- 16Oil Eater graynot tested
Paper towel oil residue ranking (granules)
- 1Coco Cleaner Pro1st place
very little oil residue
- 2Zorbent
tied 2nd with Spill Hero and Zep
- 3Zep
tied 2nd with Spill Hero and Zorbent
- 4Pig granules6th place
- 5Flash Dry granules5th place
left behind a lot of solids
- 6Spill Hero
tied 2nd with Zorbent and Zep
- 7Dr. Elsey's cat litter
tied 7th with Oil Dri
- 8Oil Dri
tied 7th with cat litter
- 9Pig pad/matsnot tested
- 10Spilfyternot tested
- 11Star Britenot tested
- 12Aainnot tested
- 13Oil Eater whitenot tested
- 14Okllennot tested
- 15Flashdry padnot tested
- 16Oil Eater graynot tested
Pad oil absorption (g)
- 9Pig pad/mats256.59 g2nd
absorbed (31.41 g dry to 288 g saturated), 2nd place behind Spilfyter
- 10Spilfyteralmost280 g1st
absorbed (25.33 g dry to 305 g saturated), 1st place
- 11Star Brite252.43 g3rd
absorbed (29.57 g dry to 282 g saturated), 3rd place, about 50% heavier dry than Oil Eater white
- 12Aainjust over201 g
absorbed (20.74 g dry to 222 g saturated)
- 13Oil Eater white187.47 g
absorbed (18.53 g dry to 206 g saturated), far more absorbent than the gray pad
- 14Okllen166.86 g
absorbed (16.14 g dry to 183 g saturated), very light dry weight
- 15Flashdry pad126.92 g
absorbed (just over 15 g dry to 142 g saturated)
- 16Oil Eater gray89.62 g
absorbed (12.38 g dry to 102 g saturated)
- 1Coco Cleaner Pronot tested
- 2Zorbentnot tested
- 3Zepnot tested
- 4Pig granulesnot tested
- 5Flash Dry granulesnot tested
- 6Spill Heronot tested
- 7Dr. Elsey's cat litternot tested
- 8Oil Drinot tested
Tear resistance dry (oz)
- 9Pig pad/mats262 oz
strongest pad tested, just over 16 lb
- 10Spilfyter205 oz
- 11Star Brite174 oz
- 12Aain123 oz
- 13Oil Eater white53 oz
- 14Okllen168 oz
- 15Flashdry pad119 oz
- 16Oil Eater gray51 oz
weakest of the pads
- 1Coco Cleaner Pronot tested
- 2Zorbentnot tested
- 3Zepnot tested
- 4Pig granulesnot tested
- 5Flash Dry granulesnot tested
- 6Spill Heronot tested
- 7Dr. Elsey's cat litternot tested
- 8Oil Drinot tested
Tear resistance wet (oz)
- 9Pig pad/mats260 oz
remained strongest pad after saturation
- 10Spilfyter105 oz
lost most of its dry strength when wet
- 11Star Brite146 oz
distant 2nd behind Pig after saturation
- 12Aain104 oz
- 13Oil Eater white49 oz
held onto most of its dry strength
- 14Okllen139 oz
lost almost 30 oz of strength
- 15Flashdry pad94 oz
lost 25 oz
- 16Oil Eater gray40 oz
weakest of the pads
- 1Coco Cleaner Pronot tested
- 2Zorbentnot tested
- 3Zepnot tested
- 4Pig granulesnot tested
- 5Flash Dry granulesnot tested
- 6Spill Heronot tested
- 7Dr. Elsey's cat litternot tested
- 8Oil Drinot tested
Concrete lift ranking (pads)
- 9Pig pad/mats6th place
- 10Spilfyter4th place
- 11Star Brite3rd place
a close race with Spilfyter
- 12Aain2nd place
- 13Oil Eater white5th place
- 14Okllen7th place
left behind quite a bit of oil
- 15Flashdry pad1st place
'definitely did the best job and earned the first place finish'
- 16Oil Eater gray8th
(last) place
- 1Coco Cleaner Pronot tested
- 2Zorbentnot tested
- 3Zepnot tested
- 4Pig granulesnot tested
- 5Flash Dry granulesnot tested
- 6Spill Heronot tested
- 7Dr. Elsey's cat litternot tested
- 8Oil Drinot tested
All measurements (2 more)+
Abrasion resistance (passes to failure)
- 9Pig pad/mats55 passes1st
took the lead from Star Brite
- 10Spilfyter27 passes3rd
- 11Star Brite50 passes2nd
first layer tore at pass 11
- 12Aain9 passes
first layer tore at pass 2
- 13Oil Eater white6 passes
first layer wore through at pass 2
- 14Okllen6 passes
first layer worn through at pass 2
- 15Flashdry pad15 passes
first layer worn through at pass 3, holding up well for a thin pad
- 16Oil Eater gray3 passes
visible damage on first pass, weakest of the pads
- 1Coco Cleaner Pronot tested
- 2Zorbentnot tested
- 3Zepnot tested
- 4Pig granulesnot tested
- 5Flash Dry granulesnot tested
- 6Spill Heronot tested
- 7Dr. Elsey's cat litternot tested
- 8Oil Drinot tested
Average finish (granules)
- 1Coco Cleaner Pro1.8
best average finish overall
- 2Zorbent2.52nd
2nd best average finish
- 3Zep2.83rd
3rd best average finish
- 4Pig granulesnot tested
- 5Flash Dry granulesnot tested
- 6Spill Heronot tested
- 7Dr. Elsey's cat litternot tested
- 8Oil Drinot tested
- 9Pig pad/matsnot tested
- 10Spilfyternot tested
- 11Star Britenot tested
- 12Aainnot tested
- 13Oil Eater whitenot tested
- 14Okllennot tested
- 15Flashdry padnot tested
- 16Oil Eater graynot tested
How it was tested
- granule max oil absorption by weight (g absorbed per approx. 1 cup starting sample)
- granule ability to lift oil off a concrete floor (visual ranking, 1 minute unassisted, shot-vac removal)
- granule paper-towel oil residue comparison (visual, after wipe attempt)
- granule max antifreeze/water absorption by weight
- pad max oil absorption by weight
- pad tear resistance dry and wet (force in oz to tear)
- pad ability to lift oil off a concrete floor (visual ranking, 1 minute unassisted)
- pad abrasion resistance on a concrete paver under a weighted two-finger tester (passes to failure)
- pad max antifreeze/water absorption by weight
