A skimming apparatus with a pivot arm and a drive follower on the pivot arm that guides a belting to facilitate precise placement of the belting for efficient skimming.

A skimming device configured to collect and store floating debris captured from a body of water. The debris includes at least one of liquid debris such as petrochemicals, semi-solid debris, and/or solid debris on or near the surface of the body of water.

A separating arrangement for a device for collecting waste material floating on or near the surface of water is disclosed. The separating arrangement includes a first basin and a separating means. The water containing waste is led to the first basin by a transfer arrangement, such as a pipe. The device is configured in such a way that the water coming from the transfer arrangement has a speed gradient, namely, the cross section of the transfer arrangement has areas where the speeds of the water flow are different. The fastest speed component of the water has the highest concentration of waste. The first basin and the separating means are configured in such a way that when the water arrives at the first basin, most of the waste reaches the separating means and does not clog the walls of the first basin.

A harvesting system for harvesting aquatic plants in or floating on a culture medium a harvesting bed configured to be circulated in and out of the culture medium. An actuator circulates the harvesting bed, a scraper positioned against a surface of the harvesting bed scraps the aquatic plants on the harvesting bed and a channel transports the aquatic plants removed by the scraper toward a collection vat. The collection vat receives the aquatic plants transported via the channel.

A flexible thermoplastic tube having a stiffening member installed inside is described herein. Mechanisms to couple both the stiffening member and outer tube are also described. The stiffened tube is particularly useful in oil skimming equipment for remediation of hydrocarbons in containment pools.

A containment boom system for remediating an oil spill in a body of water includes a base support structure and a containment boom. An elongated rod has a proximal end and a spaced apart distal end. The proximal end is hingedly attached to the base support structure and extends laterally therefrom. A buoy is coupled to the distal end of the elongated rod. The buoy has sufficient buoyancy so as to remain floating on the liquid body while supporting the elongated rod. A reclamation loop is disposed in the water, a first portion of which is disposed in the oil spill and a second portion is disposed the water on the opposite side of the containment boom from the oil spill. The reclamation loop is continuously driven through a reclamation station, which removes oil therefrom.

A multifunctional ship for the collection and recycling of ocean debris and the system thereof may include a hull; a detection device provided on the hull to detect ocean debris floating on the sea or deposited on the seabed; a collection device installed on the hull to collect the ocean debris detected by the detection device; a sorting device installed on the hull to sort the ocean debris collected by the collection device; a compressing device installed on the hull to compress the sorted ocean debris to compress and remove moisture and reduce the volume; a waste plastic recycling device installed on the hull to produce recycled oil by thermally decomposing the waste plastic compressed in the compressing device; a storage tank installed at the bottom of the hull to store the recycled oil produced; and a purifier for purifying wastewater generated in the process of producing recycled oil.

Systems and methods for cleaning and/or removal of ocean garbage are provided. The system includes a cleanup autonomous vessel (CAV) for collecting garbage, an autonomous tugboat (AT) for moving a large ocean container (LC), and a sorting machine (SM) and for sorting garbage. The system may also include an autonomous boat (AB) for transferring garbage from the CAV to the SM and for supplying fuel from the AT to the CAV. The system further includes regular ocean vessels (ROV) for moving the LC to different location. The CAV, AT, AB, LC, and ROV may operate in conjunction with a bidding process.

Environmental barge with belt skimmer for spill response to oil pollution at sea. The environmental barge consists of an upper part with pontoons and a lower part with a bottom with an integrated hydrophilic filter. The environmental barge is designed so that at least four environmental barges can be stacked inside and on top of each other. Oil-mixed water is guided to the belt skimmer, which carries it up into the environmental barge, where the gravitational principle means that the oil pushes the water through the hydrophilic filter and back into the sea as the barge is filled with oil. The environmental barge can thus be completely filled with oil without increasing the draft. The environmental barge footprint is identical to a standard 20-foot container, and it has container corner castings, allowing significant spill response capacity to be quickly transported and deployed in areas where no other spill response capacity is available. The size of the environmental barge and the constant draft regardless of loading condition mean that the invention

A method for removing oil from a body of water including providing a matrix having a longitudinally-directed column defined by oil-absorbing and/or oil-adsorbing blankets each affixed independently of each other to a connecting strip that extends along the length of the column; deploying the matrix to a body of water to bring the column into contact with the body of water; inducing tension in the connecting strip to move blankets of the column in unison relative to the body of water; collecting oil with the first and second blankets; and removing the blankets and at least a portion of the oil collected thereby. Also, an oil spill removal system including such a matrix and in which, during matrix movement in the longitudinal direction, drag on a following blanket of a matrix column is carried by the connecting strip rather than by a preceding blanket of that column.