Improvement and Empirical Testing of a Novel Autonomous Microplastics-Collecting Semisubmersible
Ziddane Isahaku
TL;DR
The paper investigates an autonomous semisubmersible designed to collect surface microplastics using a modified Manta Trawl with onboard propulsion and an Arduino-based guidance system. It combines literature-driven rationale, engineering design, CFD and stress analyses, and empirical testing in the Milwaukee River to evaluate feasibility and performance. Results show the device can collect thousands of microplastics in a short test, with significant improvements implemented after initial testing, and modeling suggests deployment could reduce lake-wide microplastic loads under certain assumptions. The work demonstrates a path toward scalable, autonomous microplastics removal, while emphasizing the need for large-scale deployment planning, cost considerations, and supportive environmental policies to address upstream plastic inputs.
Abstract
Since their invention, plastics have become ubiquitous in modern societies all around the world, and their impact on the environment has, in recent years, become nearly as well-known. Plastics produced by humans have reached nearly every corner of the world, and throughout their centuries-long lifetimes, plastics continually break down into smaller and smaller particles due to the physical stresses which they are subjected to. These stresses eventually, inevitably, break these plastics down into microplastics -pieces of plastic small enough to be consumed by organisms in bodies of water throughout the globe. These microplastics can very easily bioaccumulate, and have been found everywhere from the Great Lakes to the bloodstreams of humans. The effects of these plastics are poorly understood, however, they have been linked to infertility, halted growth, and a host of other maladies in aquatic organisms. Currently, removal of these plastics has been neglected, with no governmental action to remove them from marine environments, and this project aims to begin prototyping a solution to this issue. A significant percentage of microplastics are found at the surface of waterways, thus trawling in surface waters using an autonomously propelled net is proposed as a way to solve this seemingly intractable issue. By attaching motors and a guidance system to a manta trawl, a device currently used for collecting microorganisms, the process of collecting microplastics in open water can be automated, and thus the work of removing plastics from the environment on a large scale can begin.