POLLUTION CONTROL

Ecoceane adds to anti-pollution vessel range

14 years ago

French company Ecoceane, which specialising in vessels that collect floating debris and hydrocarbons, has launched a new model, the Workglop 128.

The Workglop 128 is capable of recovering waterborne pollution at a rate of 80m³/h

This unique anti-pollution vessel deploys Ecoceane’s proven technology, which hoovers up waterborne waste in an emulsion free manner and was used to clean up the oil slick in the Gulf of Mexico in 2010.

Workglop 128 acts as a vacuum cleaner across the surface of the sea, capable of recovering waterborne pollution at a rate of 80m³/h. The Workglop range of vessels is used for the protection of large industrial and commercial ports and the shoreline.

Ecoceane ships are fitted out with hydraulic aluminium self-floating booms, connected at the stern by a transversal axis, which makes it possible to work simultaneously on different planes. The booms are constantly in the optimum position on top of the waves and enable all the vessels in the Workglop range (106, 117 and 128) to work effectively in bad weather, including in conditions where winds and/or waves are up to Force 6.

In order to augment its storage capacity and to make possible continuous work on a polluted site, the ships in the Workglop range are permanently equipped with a system for transferring collected hydrocarbons.

From the starting of the engine, the Ecoceane ships filter the water that is passing between the ship’s hulls. Macro-waste material is stopped by a basket-container, and the hydrocarbons pass into a separator where they are stored as they float. This technology has been patented.

Most importantly, the Ecoceane collection system does not create emulsion. If the recovered pollution is already emulsified, it cannot be transferred, as the transfer pump always sucks in the hydrocarbons above the water (and above the emulsion). When the separator is full of emulsion, it is isolated and heated, using a keel-cooling system and a generating unit, in order to separate the hydrocarbons from the water.

Ecoceane has been marketing its range of ships and services in relation to hydrocarbon recovery for the oil and gas industries in the USA, and in local communities and ports worldwide. Today 85% of the company’s turnover is achieved through export sales.