Existing supereffective trash eating solar powered waterwheel overlooked among plans to clean the oc
29 replies, posted
[media]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v5l7s6wC50g[/media]
[quote]Ocean plastic is bad news. Last week we were learned that not only did every ocean have its own, personal garbage gyre, but that a huge amount of plastic is “missing” from the ocean–that is, it has been incorporated into the ecosystem in ways we don’t yet understand. While there is plenty of misinformation floating around out there about what exactly these garbage patches are (hint: they aren’t solid islands of trash), there is no doubt that they are effecting the global ocean ecosystem in both profound and subtle ways.
[B]Situated at the mouth of Jones Falls[/B]–a major tributary for Baltimore’s Inner Harbor–the Water Wheel’s water wheel is powered by current (and supplemented by solar panels). The wheel drives a series of rakers that pull floating trash out of the Falls and onto a conveyor belt, where it is deposited in a floating dumpster. A bank of booms span the outlet ensure that all trash will be shepherded towards the Water Wheel. The dumpster barge is independent, and can be swapped out as the dumpster fills. The total operating capacity of the Water Wheel is 25 tons of garbage per day.
The Water Wheel is the brainchild of John Kellett of Clearwater Mills, who has been developing the technology since 2008. The first water wheel, which was designed to look like an actual mill house, spent three years in trials, before being removed from the Harbor in 2011 as it couldn’t keep up with the volume of garbage entering the Bay from Baltimore City. The new Wheel debuted this May and, in it’s first major trial, removed 50,000 lbs of trash, ranging from cigarette butts to tires.[/quote]
Please read the rest of it, it's very informative: [url]http://www.southernfriedscience.com/?p=17362[/url]
A lot of people are coming up with massive ocean cleaning projects, when something as simple of this humble wheel would be sooo much better, and it already exists in practice today. Every river should have one of these. It would make a world of difference almost immediately.
[editline]15th July 2014[/editline]
[quote]The new Wheel debuted this May and, in it’s first major trial,[B] removed 50,000 lbs of trash[/B], ranging from cigarette butts to tires.[/quote]
[editline]15th July 2014[/editline]
[IMG]http://i.imgur.com/o7w9k7W.png[/IMG]
[url]http://healthyharborbaltimore.org/whats-happening-now/water-wheel[/url]
The amount of trash they scoop up in only that part of the city is pretty shocking.
[QUOTE=ZyreHD;45400652]The amount of trash they scoop up in only that part of the city is pretty shocking.[/QUOTE]
The Jones Falls watershed is 40-58 square miles, with at least 200,000 residents living within. That river is essentially a trash conveyor for 200,000 peoples improperly disposed litter.
[I]and that's just one river[/I]
It's really effective, but it also blocks any water routes that may be there while it's cleaning.
[editline]15th July 2014[/editline]
I guess that's why it's overlooked.
what about the trash that doesn't float? granted plastic is much more dangerous for the ecosystem but I suppose there is plastic that only barely floats too?
I don't think this is a viable solution, these aren't really that quick and the ocean is really, really big
plus these don't address the plastic floating in the -10m layer, which is most of it
how much does this thing cost?
oh, it's for rivers leading to the ocean
that seems a lot better then, i think lowering the amount going in and waiting for the extant amount to just wash up and fuck off is better than spending batrillions on harebrained schemes to pick up the trash off the ocean
Yeah this works for rivers, since they flow towards it. If you read how it works, it really doesn't apply to ocean trash removal without massive modifications that make it not as cheap and amazing.
[B]Edit: [/B]Looks like I misunderstood the intended use, my bad.
It doesn't clean the debris already in the ocean, it cleans garbage at the mouth of the rivers before it can become ocean debris. Plans to clean stuff directly from the gyres are unfeasible because of how mixed the plastic is with the mixing layer of the ocean. Fix the pipe before mopping the floor.
It's certainly better than just letting all that shit into the ocean I guess.
[QUOTE=FalconKrunch;45400868]It's really effective, but it also blocks any water routes that may be there while it's cleaning.
[editline]15th July 2014[/editline]
I guess that's why it's overlooked.[/QUOTE]
While it may be wishful thinking, if this type of project was implemented with multiple small wheels and booms spanning the river outlet, a type of system like a drawbridge could possibly be implemented. Maybe have the booms be separated via a large wire system?
What about fine particulate plastic?
I realize that most of the tiny grit out there is material that has broken down, but there's a staggering amount of particulate matter in most rivers. It's just not as easily noticeable as the odd bottle floating by.
Hey I live there!
Its disgusting!
[QUOTE=Reviized;45401311]While it may be wishful thinking, if this type of project was implemented with multiple small wheels and booms spanning the river outlet, a type of system like a drawbridge could possibly be implemented. Maybe have the booms be separated via a large wire system?[/QUOTE]
Or just next to a watergate
I'd like to see this used in the Ganges river.
that would yield you a lot of dead bodies
What's preventing fish from getting caught in it?
[QUOTE=IKTM;45406351]What's preventing fish from getting caught in it?[/QUOTE]
I don't know, swimming under it ?
[QUOTE=IKTM;45406351]What's preventing fish from getting caught in it?[/QUOTE]
It only gets floating stuff.
[QUOTE=OvB;45406664]It only gets floating stuff.[/QUOTE]
Ah, that makes sense. The word "raker" made me think of a structure going all the way to the bottom of the river.
So this one filters out the hard trash, and the water treatment plant somewhere else filters out the apparent heavy contamination of coffee in the water?
When he turned the camera towards the amount of trash they were collecting, I actually exclaimed out loud. That's incredible. And so simple too.
[QUOTE=Zephyrs;45404488]What about fine particulate plastic?
I realize that most of the tiny grit out there is material that has broken down, but there's a staggering amount of particulate matter in most rivers. It's just not as easily noticeable as the odd bottle floating by.[/QUOTE]
Just like Ovb already said, the idea is to get the plastic out before it has time to turn into broken down plastic.
I can definitely confirm that the water is filled with a whole bunch of crap. I mean it can be expected since its a city. It's an interesting idea that definitely seems to work.
James Dyson of the vacuum company also drew up plans for a boat that has the same kind of mechanism, buy it's also got those Dyson cyclones the vacuums use so I wonder if that one can separate smaller stuff from the water. I haven't really looked into it all.
All those bottles dear god. Imagine if we forced manufactures of beverages and food to swap over to biodegradable plastics.
[QUOTE=Rofl my Waff;45406751]Just like Ovb already said, the idea is to get the plastic out before it has time to turn into broken down plastic.[/QUOTE]
Yes, but there's a huge amount of already broken down plastic in rivers. Most industry produces tons of it as byproducts from everything, especially nibs on the injection holes for injection molding.
[QUOTE=Zephyrs;45407890]Yes, but there's a huge amount of already broken down plastic in rivers. Most industry produces tons of it as byproducts from everything, especially nibs on the injection holes for injection molding.[/QUOTE]
This is true. There's not much this can do for that. The Dyson one might be able to separate those however.
[QUOTE=Alxnotorious;45406732]When he turned the camera towards the amount of trash they were collecting, I actually exclaimed out loud. That's incredible. And so simple too.[/QUOTE]
Loads of rivers actually have similar constructions on dams, since its beneficial for them to clean the stuff there.
Keep also in mind, that is is after a major storm. Which means a lot of stuff gets directly churmed into the waterway, as opposed to getting filtered in the sewage system.
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