Cleanup of the waste plastics must occur in the next 10 years in order to reduce nanoparticles of plastic in the food chain. The cleanup of waste plastics in the ocean gyres is especially important for preventing further pollution and protecting marine ecosystems.
A gyre is any large system of circulating ocean currents, particularly those involved with large wind movements.
There are five (5) major gyres in the world that have become a depository for waste plastics.
Below describes a way to handle the cleanup of the plastics.
The Ocean Cleanup has developed an array that can capture the plastic particles and is solar powered. Coupling this to the Respolyflow pyrolysis technology the plastics can be converted to hydrocarbon fuels.
A ship would serve as processing plant would operate as follows:
A desalination plant would provide fresh water to wash the plastic pieces. A vacuum system would pull up the fine particles for filtering, dewatering and washing with fresh water.
A rotary drier would dry the plastic pieces.
Ultimately the ResPolyflow system mounted on a ship would pyrolyze the plastics and produce:
- Naphtha – manufacture brand-new, virgin-quality plastics.
- Diesel – to operate the array at night
- Fuel oil – for making electricity on the ship
The whole plant would be modular and placed on the processing ship.