Present Technology The Great Pacific Garbage Patch (GPGP) has caused a lot of problems. People have come up with ideas as to how we can fix the problem in a cost effective and plausible way. One of the major concerns is the wildlife in the oceans. Marine biologists use devices such a waterproof cameras to track the movements and habits of marine life. This may allow us to see how the trash is affecting the animals in their habitats but can be disrupted if there is to high of a concentration of trash in the water. Marine biologists also use biostatistical programs and microcomputers to enter in information that tracks the animals.
It can be shared with other scientists. While marine biologists and animal rescue teams are saving animals lives everyday, we want to be able to help and increase the amount of lives that are saved. Everyday people use all sorts of materials that could end up in the ocean if we are not careful, whether a bag is thrown out a car window and carried by the wind, or a bird picks up a six pack plastic ring from soda cans and drops it in the water.
One of the easiest ways people can contribute to the clean up is to recycle. Although it may be easy for us to throw our plastics, metals, cardboards, etc. nto the trash bin there is actually a lot more that goes on behind the scenes of recycling. Once the recyclables have been delivered to a proper facility, all of the trash is picked up by a claw and placed on a conveyor belt that is sorted through by workers to make sure that the objects are not too large. The trash then moves onto the star screens. These are star shaped objects that are electrically powered and rotate, moving some trash forward. Items such as glass are too heavy and fall through the stars and are taken away to be reused.
Magnets remove all metal by attracting the opposite polarity in the magnetic field of the metal. The magnets also create an abundance of electrons in the aluminum trash called an eddy field. An Eddy Current Separator has an opposing force in the end of it which pushes off all of the aluminum. Infrared lasers send a beam out that detects the emitted light energy of the remaining plastic. This then allows the machine to determine if it is recyclable or non-recyclable. All the extra trash that can not be reused is taken to landfills.
While this is a great way to lower the amount of trash that goes into the water, it is not enough to stop pollution all together or fix the mess that has already been made. Next, Project Kaisei consists of a group of scientists, engineers, sailors, and volunteers. Since 2009, Project Ka gone on three expeditions and has teamed up with other research groups such as Scripps Institution of Oceanography. In hopes of being able to understand the vortex in our oceans, they have sailed into the GPGP and have done much research in order to find a solution to how we can clean up this mess.
They have used techniques such as purse seining. Purse seining is a large net that that can be up to 650 feet deep and it attached to a boat. When the target area is found the boat encircles it and the bottom of the net is pulled tight so nothing can escape. They also use trawls, which is basically a large net attached to two boats, one on each side. Like the purse seining, the net closes but instead of closing on the bottom it closes on the top. The problem with this is that the trash that is smaller than the holes in the net escape. One of the most efficient ways of cleaning up the GPGP was invented by Boyan Slat.
Boyan Slat is a Dutch entrepreneur and founder and the CEO of The Ocean Cleanup project. This invention consists of a V-shaped boom that is situated in a gyre. This will allow the ocean to clean itself when the water circulates into the boom. Attached to the boom is a non-permeable net. It does not allow anything to pass through and will capture all the plastic that floats to the top of the water. It lets sea life swim under it and does not prevent proper water flow. In the center of the V there is a platform that takes in all the plastic and holds it until it is picked up by humans.
While this technology does work for retrieving all plastic that floats to the top of the water, we still need to worry about that water below that level. Also, this technology is great in the sense that the ocean can clean itself but we also have to clean other areas of water that have been polluted by trash such as lakes and rivers because someday that trash will be apart of the GPGP and we need to prevent it before this happens. Other technology that we are using as inspiration include biomimicry, electromagnets, and sorters.
First, biomimicry is the use of nature, such as plants and animals in order to solve complex problems. For our project we will be using sharks as our inspiration. Sharks have dentin as skin that are made of small rectangles. This allows the shark to swim faster and quieter. Sharks also have electroreceptors that allow them to detect prey miles away from their location. The salt in the water contains ions that when disturbed creates an electrical current in the water. This will help us find the marine life in a more reliable way than fish finders that tend to not be as accurate.
We need to find a way to mimic both of these characteristics. Next, electromagnets work the same way that regular magnets do except that they can be turned off by a disruption in the circuit. They attract magnetic fields of the opposite polarity. We will use this idea to create a trash magnet. The problem with this is that it does not exist today. Lastly, color sorters work when a sensor senses the color of the object and takes away the colors red, green, and blue and then decides what its actual color is. Once it has decided, there is a tube that opens to the proper bin and the object falls through.
The door closes before any other objects get through. We will be using this idea to come up with a way to separate different trash. Another technology that exists today and will be used in powering our ship is hydro-power. Hydro-power converts falling water into electricity. A water wheel will take water that has potential energy, and transfer it into kinetic energy as it rotates and gravity pulls it down. The water will then be transferred into electricity through a generator. Utilizing all of this technology that exists today, will be a great source of information towards creating our innovations.