Cordava - Ocean gyre
cleaner
Cordava, now in an upgrade phase, is the name of the program to conduct
Ocean cleaning, particularly the ocean gyres which have huge amounts of rubbish
in them – there is more than one area of extreme pollution and some are almost
as big as the one in the western Pacific Ocean.
Earlier designs were successively replaced by the newer technology under
development to remove the rubbish both with greater effectiveness and speed at
a lower cost. These first eight concepts would not have dealt with the real
problem; the submerged debris made up of small plastic particles and present
design programmes are focusing on concepts to successfully filter this debris
from the Ocean at high speed and low cost.
The first solid underwater concepts started from concepts based on a
whale, which travel with their mouths open and remove Plankton from the sea at
high speed. Attempts to match dimensions of the surface ships resulted similar
to a floating dry-dock, filtering water as it was towed along behind a ship removing
rubbish from the surface to 150ft or deeper if desired. It derived another
cheaper concept since a floating dry dock is an expensive piece of machinery.
Oceanaleen investigated technology to remove rubbish from both rain and
sea water via centrifugal force. Similar technology is being looked at as part
of the advanced filtration system for debris field clean ups. Medical
appliances separate molecules in blood by spinning them around at high speed. Even
small pieces of plastic, polystyrene, metal and foam could be separated with
such a system. The water flow can provide the source of locomotion for the
turbine, so a high flow of water can develop more power to deal with more
rubbish.
The next version used a simpler design with the turbine technology with
a far cheaper series of large plastic pipes bound together with the filtration
gear inside. This equipment capitalises on the fact water cannot be compressed,
plus sea water will have a different mass to any objects within it under
acceleration of a centrifuge. Such as system will have very little drag.
Filtration equipment ironically placed the budget back to original
estimates using large ships. Oceanaleen’s systems now target the whole spectrum
of rubbish -Global coastal (initial) and land based rubbish, urban, and oceanic
surface and submerged debris from shipping containers to micrometric particles
- rather than a specific type of rubbish only - surface rubbish in the
mid-Pacific - when it began.
The latest research, which, if found workable will be placed into a
design, is investigating fluid dynamics in separating the rubbish from the
water. The rubbish has a different density to water – which cannot be
compressed. This would reduce the cost and speed the filtration should the
research find a design capable. The final design for removing rubbish particles
out of the Ocean – which is like a sea-born version of smog - may be more than
two years away.
Oceanaleen’s goals have been redefined to place the Oceanaleen Ground Teams
and Bordiva boats into service as quickly as possible. The Cordava will be a
task engineers and continued concept work by Briggs Aerospace Technologies will
continue. Rushing any technology into service would most likely be too slow and
economically unsustainable. This places the logic into improving the other
programs such as Bordiva and Saharro, which was justly expanded from being just
the Pacific to encompassing all coastlines worldwide.
Work has produced the engineering specifications vital for the
production of any design. Guidelines are:
- Process 3 mega litres per
second
- Travel at sustained speed of
15 knots: these two specifications enable the processing of a square
kilometre of ocean over 100 feet deep in around an hour.
- Be at a reasonable cost to
build and operate, preferably in relation to the Oceanaleen effort and budget,
since it is unlikely other nations and Governments will provide any
additional assistance.
New designs come from within Briggs Aerospace Technologies, Oceanaleen or externally, as a development prize contest in under consideration. This will be very similar to the Hypersonic Engine Development programme and Varulkarie programme offered by Briggs Aerospace Technologies on its website. It will offer a substantial financial reward to any person or consortium best fulfilling the design requirements with an effective design.
Sources of the rubbish
Rubbish in the Oceans is growing in size daily and has serious
implications. This is possibly the most dangerous environmental disaster since
the hole in the ozone layer was detected.
Eighty percent of rubbish is said to have come from land based sources,
the other twenty percent from ships at sea. A basic summary of the main sources
of debris are:
People only need to look to their own rubbish bins to see how much
rubbish one person throws out in a week; nearly a cubic metre on average. In
the United States only 5% of all plastic are recycled. Relate this to thousands
of commercial, private and military vessels in the Pacific, some such as cruise
ships carry over 5000 people.
Without Oceanaleen, much more rubbish will be flowing out to sea in 10 years’
time, than is flowing out now. The garbage in the gyres will double in size,
and the associated problems will be exponential of what they are today. There
are groups taking action, however the scale overwhelms the efforts based upon
lobbying, not action, mirroring ineffective Government advertising campaigns. Population
growth – predominantly urban and coastal, couple with increasing wealth – and
with it consumption and waste –in what were impoverished nations adds to the
burden.
The countries with the highest populations, India and China are
experiencing rapid growth of their middle classes, leading to massive increases
in the use of packaged goods.
Oceanaleen creates professional teams whose task is to pick up rubbish.
This is the most effective way of dealing with the task. Environmentalists
wanting to make a difference can obtain a professional position in doing so.
Saharro provides a catalyst for people, whom, while they may not be able to
clean up a whole ocean - will be inspired enough to clean up their own
neighbourhoods.