Floating Debris Processor Fragmentation and Oil-Water Separation
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing debris recovery systems are inefficient in collecting and processing floating debris and contaminants from bodies of water due to limitations in capacity, type of debris handled, and environmental factors like wind and waves.
Innovation Solution
The system involves a vessel with chambers and processors that fragment and re-fragment floating solid debris, using intake and discharge systems managed by inflow regulators to efficiently collect and separate debris from water.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Quantity of substance
If existing oil skimmers are used to recover floating oil, then oil collection is performed, but the systems cannot separate out significant amounts of collected oil from sea water, resulting in limited on-board oil storage capacity
Solution Approach 1:
The system divides the oil recovery process into distinct stages: collection of oily water mixture, separation of oil from water, and storage of recovered oil. The separator unit creates distinct zones for different functions, allowing continuous operation without waiting for storage capacity to be emptied.
Solution Approach 2:
The separator unit acts as an intermediary between the collection system and storage system. It processes the oily water mixture by separating oil and water, allowing the collection system to continue operating while processed oil is transferred to storage, thus decoupling the storage capacity limitation from the recovery rate.
2Quantity of substance
If existing oil skimmers operate for extended periods, then more oil can be collected, but the systems cause further emulsification of oil and water, limiting on-board storage capacity and increasing cost and time
Solution Approach 1:
The separator unit extracts oil from the oily water mixture through phase separation, removing the oil component before it can become emulsified with water. This extraction process prevents emulsification by separating the immiscible phases, allowing for larger volumes to be recovered without composition degradation.
3Quantity of substance
If existing systems attempt to separate recovered oil from sea water, then some separation is achieved, but the process is slow and thus largely ineffective at recovering substantial volumes of oil
Solution Approach 1:
The system merges collection, separation, and storage functions into an integrated continuous process. The separator unit combines gravitational separation with controlled flow management to achieve rapid oil-water separation, eliminating the time delay between collection and storage that plagues batch-processing systems.
Data Source
AI summary
Systems and methods capable of processing floating solid materials recovered from a body of water on a vessel are disclosed. In some embodiments, at least first and second debris processors are provided. The first debris processor may be disposed on the vessel between at least one intake opening and at least one discharge port, both of which are fluidly coupled to at least one chamber of the vessel. The second debris processor may be disposed between the first debris processor and the discharge port(s).