Catamaran concept for reducing ocean plastics wins regional design challenge

A team of Ship Science students from the University of Southampton have won an engineering design challenge with their vision for a catamaran that would remove and treat ocean macroplastics.

The team were commended by the Western Joint Branch of the Royal Institution of Naval Architects (RINA) and the Institute of Marine Engineering, Science and Technology (IMarEST) in a biennial competition seeking solutions for contemporary engineering challenges.

Fourth year MEng Ship Science students Alex Pardoe, Diogo Nunes and Tom Kenwright proposed a design, called the Oceanum Nova, for a repurposed catamaran dive support vessel that would collect debris caught by floating barricades.

Gathered plastic would then be treated through a process of pyrolysis, where material is broken down using heat, and stored on board in volumes of over 150 tonnes.

“Plastics being found in the ocean have been there for many decades and will be for many decades to come unless something is done,” Alex says. “It is important to think about how to remove them efficiently and economically. Engineers will always be at the heart of this topic as they are the ones that will have to design, build, test and operate any potential solution.

“Our design is based on the fact that there are a number of proven systems capable of collecting plastic in both oceans and rivers already available from companies such as The Ocean Cleanup. A key feature of our catamaran vessel is a large deployable conveyor belt between the hulls as the main method of removing plastic from the ocean. The vessel also carries 'skimmers' which are used to target smaller collections of plastic.”

The team’s design was developed with the ambition that the vessel could be used by any government or community worldwide to help reduce ocean plastics.

The proposed pyrolysis systems could be used by coastal communities in developing countries as a way of generating electricity, as a by-product of the process, from waste plastics. Other products of the pyrolysis could also be collected and sold depending on what is fed into the system.

The regional competition was judged in Bristol based on the production of a poster along with a presentation and interview with a panel of experts from the National Oceanographic Centre, the Environment Agency, Houlder, Babcock and the IMarEST.

Southampton Ship Science and Mechanical Engineering students Umberto Varbaro, Ismael Iess Falcón, Henrique Araújo, Jonah Massey, Minos Hemrich and Marco Cardona also finished third in the design challenge.

Submitted designs across the region provided a wide range of concepts, including static and propelled, single point collection and multiple autonomous drones, as well as system-based and shore-based recycling.

Caption: Left to right: Diogo Nunes, Tom Kenwright and Alex Pardoe are congratulated by Kevin Heaney, Chairman of Western Joint Branch. Image credit: IMarEST