System 001/B – Ocean Cleanup – Update

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In this post:
Following the Ocean Cleanup Road……
System 001/B,
The System 001/B tests,
Results of System 001/B’s tests just finished

Following the Ocean Cleanup Road…….

System 001 and its variations are designed to be the first cleanup systems that can be tested and then the basis to clean up the Great Pacific Garbage Patch. Once we have reached proven technology with System 001, and it’s redesigns, we will be able to design System 002, which will become the blueprint for scaling up to full fleet.

System 001/B

System 001/B is designed as a modular platform to allow us to test multiple options for solving the issue of “plastic retention”- catching and holding the plastic garbage. Just five months after System 001 returned to shore, System 001/B set sail 18 June, 2019 on our next mission to develope a working concept. Once deployed in the Great Pacific Garbage Patch, the aim of this re-design is to test multiple changes, such as: speeding up the system with buoys, slowing down the system with a parachute sea anchor, and an adjusted placement of the screen to reduce the loads on the HDPE floater. This modular system can be almost entirely modified while “offshore”, thus allowing us to learn as much as possible during this campaign and speed up this cycle – working toward “proof of technology”.

This is an exciting step in our journey – seeing as how we designed, procured, assembled, and launched an entirely new system in only four months. What we are doing is challenging, though. The road to cleanup is not linear, nor is it easy – but it’s definitely worth doing. During the deployment of System 001/B, we will test modifications to “speed it up” or “slow it down”, with the end goal of creating a consistent speed through plastic that allows us to effectively capture and retain the catch. If we do not achieve proven technology status with this campaign, we will certainly learn a great deal more from this system 001/B for the next system redesign using the new root cause analysis.

Bigger is not always better……

System 001/B, Launched mid-2019, is smaller and modular, allowing for offshore adaptations. In this way, we can quickly see which modification is more effective and improve going forward. The test checklist of System 001/B is below.

System 001/B tests
We learned a great deal during our time offshore with Wilson. Namely how to improve our approach and speed up the life cycle of our processes. For testing purposes, this system is 160 meters rather than the intended size of 600 meters or larger. When we have a proven concept, we will again increase the size of Systems 002.

We observed with Wilson that the system did not maintain a consistent speed, so plastic would float out of the system. Solving this will be done by either slowing down the system or speeding it up, the main point is to keep the speed consistent and ensure plastics always come from the same side. We will trial both approaches with System 001/B .

And Here: the Results of System 001/B’s tests.

• We have completed our test campaign with System 001/B
• A consistent speed through the plastic has been achieved using the parachute anchor configuration, therefore, solving our main technical challenge with Wilson
• However, the technology is not proven yet, as “plastic overtopping” needs to be addressed before the plastic is effectively retained in the system

Overall, all configurations performed better than Wilson; in all tests the system generally experienced a positive speed differential. The plastic entered the system from the correct side.  But the winning concept is the slow-down approach, in which we use a parachute anchor to slow down the system as much as possible. This allows the natural winds and waves to push the plastic into the system.

GETTING OUT OF THE TWILIGHT

Holding the plastic garbage is still not working. We will attempt to fix this by massively increasing the buoyancy and height of the cork line of the screen. The floats of the current cork line measure 15 cm in diameter. In comparison, we will now be using three rows of 32 cm floats stacked on top of each other. We are creating a total height of about half a meter.

As always, we will keep you updated with the results, so keep an eye out at https://theoceancleanup.com/updates/.

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Plastic in the Oceans >> Ocean Cleanup!  
System 001/B – Ocean Cleanup – Update
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