Tag: Ocean

In future, edible drones could be used to reach inaccessible locations. Now a Danish research team wants to equip large sea vessels with fully autonomous drones. If someone falls overboard, the drone is immediately dispatched complete with an inflatable life jacket that sends a GPS signal. This improves the person’s survival chances and enables lifeboats to locate them quickly....

Foliage can be used to make sustainable paper and packaging material. Similarly, a Swedish startup is using seagrass that has been washed ashore to manufacture environmentally-friendly yarn. Until now the plant, which is present in large quantities on beaches, has simply been discarded. A recent feasibility study has shown it can be made into yarn without the addition of...

Rapidly spreading algae makes construction materials more sustainable. High numbers of shore crabs likewise disrupt the maritime ecosystem. Which is why a Danish startup is collecting the invasive beach- and ocean-dwellers using crab baskets or passive fishing nets. Once caught, crab flesh and shell are processed separately into flour and used as animal- or fish-feed supplements. Crab meal powder...

A membrane filters wastewater and runs on its own electricity. Inspiration, perhaps, for a US research team, which has created a solar panel from black metal to make seawater drinkable without pre-treatment. Key here: special surface treatment of the metal. Tiny laser-cut grooves make the metal permeable to water without affecting its ability to absorb sunlight. Through the capillary...

A robot banishes harmful algae slicks to the ocean floor. And, according to an Australian research team, oil spills could soon be hoovered up by mini-robots. Key here: a new filter with small, air-filled pouches, coated with a water-resistant nanolayer of graphene oxide. It separates oil with 95% purity and can be extensively reused. The 3D-printed, electrically-operated mini-robot complete...

Lights on fishing nets reduce unwanted bycatch. But, once discarded, fishing nets endanger sea life. Enter a British startup, which aims to reuse old nets and reduce marine pollution. With the help of small investors, the English founder has developed a patented machine in a shipping container, which can shred and clean up to 20kg of old nylon nets...

Optimised shipping routes lead to reduced emissions. CO2 emissions can also be spiked by algae on ships’ hulls and changes in flow behaviour. Now, a startup in Singapore is specialising in the removal of algae on container ships and other types of vessels. A robot inspects the extent of the damage, using patented technology to generate clear images even...

A robot can clean oceans by dropping harmful seaweed below the surface. Yet in Brasil, a research team has found a new use for sargassum, a rapidly-spread brown algae that stinks out beaches. The team mixed the seaweed with clay, using 20% sargassum in one batch and 40% in the other. These samples were compressed at temperatures of 800-1.000°C...