#1 One Dutch kid's plan to deplastic the Ocean.
Posted: Fri Jun 27, 2014 6:51 pm
I it works.
The Basic Principles
1: Passive collection
Why move through the oceans, if the oceans can move through you? Attaching an array of floating barriers and platforms to the sea bed enables us to concentrate the plastic before extracting it from the ocean —a collection process 100% driven by the natural winds and currents.
2: Capturing plastics, not sea life
Instead of nets, we make use of solid floating barriers, making entanglement of wildlife impossible. Virtually all of the current flows underneath these booms, taking away all (neutrally buoyant) organisms, and preventing by-catch, while the lighter-than-water plastic collects in front of the floating barrier.
3: Highly scalable
The scalable array of moorings and booms is designed for large-magnitude deployment, covering millions of square kilometers.Thanks to its projected high capture and field efficiency, a single gyre can be covered in just 5 years (or longer, depending on the chosen deployment strategy).
Novel boom design
After having determined the forces acting on floating barriers using computer software, engineers noted that a barrier anchored to the sea floor would pull tight under strain, stopping it from following the waves. To solve this problem, we came up with a new boom design in which the tension-carrying cable and the boom itself are separated, enabling the boom to move with the motion of the waves (like an inverted pendulum). Early tests suggests this significantly reduces the wave-induced forces.
Storm resistant
Using both computer simulations and scale model tests, we engineered a boom that can operate in over 95% of conditions. On top of that, a conservative safety factor of 2.5 was applied. And, if waves get even higher than predicted, the booms segments will decouple at one end, letting the waves move through the Array unimpeded, which will save the equipment from catastrophic failure.
Unprecedented efficiency
Using Computational Fluid Dynamics simulations, we calculated that approximately 80% of the plastic encountering the boom will be captured. We also showed that the plastic, including the submerged particles, will be transported along the angled booms, confirming that the Array can indeed concentrate plastic.