Outboard engines: removing microplastics from the sea with each use

[Brewgyver]

Originally Posted by ArmyDaveNY

This idea is nothing more than marketing. Actually, it is worse than that. It adds needless complexity to the engine, consumes additional resources, and adds unnecessary expense and complexity to a product.

Agreed. Nothing more than virtue signaling.

Stop it at the sources, and as most of the sources are in Communist China, good luck.

[Brewgyver]

Originally Posted by Gaia

I looked up the world's volume of water and it is 1.4 x 10^21 litres. That is a lot of water! (snip) As others have said and assuming microplastics are distributed uniformly it seems like a hopeless task.

But don't give up so easy! Really, all we need to do is set up a MILLION vessels filtering at a THOUSAND gallons per hour, run them all 24/7, and they will complete the equivalent of filtering all the worlds water in only

a bit over 42 million years...

[RaymondR]

Since it appears to be tokenistic it's quiet likely to enter into legislation in the near future.

[markcouz]

Wow those are some negative comments to what could be the start of a positive idea!

The plastic is already there and has been building up over many years, we could make a plan to slowly start filtering it out while shifting to a more sustainable form of packaging - or we could do nothing.

It seems to me that plastic in the ocean is a problem, and if there is a way to improve it without paying billions to some politician or crooked NGO then I am all for it.

[Jim Cate]

Hmm... the target material is MICRO-plastics. The particle size is very small. A filter that can remove it will be very fine. Very fine filters have a lot of pressure drop if there is significant flow, as in cooling water. Very fine filters clog easily, with either the designated plastic or with biologicals that are present in much ocean water or silt that is present in river waters. A clogged filter will reduce flow. Reduced flow will cause overheating in an outboard (or any water cooled engine).

What could possibly go wrong???

Jim

[markcouz]

Well you could have a valve that opens in a bypass line once back pressure at the filter reaches a given point - I don't think Suzuki engineers are that dumb.

Having said that I agree that outboards is tokenism, but think rolling it out commercially where the business would benefit could be a good idea.

Capitalism works.

[BlackHeron]

Originally Posted by Jim Cate

Hmm... the target material is MICRO-plastics. The particle size is very small. A filter that can remove it will be very fine. Very fine filters have a lot of pressure drop if there is significant flow, as in cooling water. Very fine filters clog easily, with either the designated plastic or with biologicals that are present in much ocean water or silt that is present in river waters. A clogged filter will reduce flow. Reduced flow will cause overheating in an outboard (or any water cooled engine).

What could possibly go wrong???

Jim

I believe there will be a bypass-filter loop, similar to the famed "Franz" TP oil filter kit. They will only have a tiny parasitical draw from the impeller pressure and that can be engineered-in from the drawing board with a slightly larger-sized raw water pump.

None of the cooling water will pass through this microplastic filter. It will be a separate filter T-ed off of the pressure side of the pump, through said filter, and then spit back out the side of the engine.

When it plugs up flow will stop and it will do nothing until the filter is cleaned out and the plastic "properly disposed of."

It'd be funny if the filter was a disposable element that needed to be replaced, and would simply add to the burden of plastic junk sent to the landfill

[Alan Mighty]

Originally Posted by Alan Mighty

I think GordMay's second question is easily handled: microplastics removed from the filter can be discarded to landfill.

Or perhaps, microwaved and converted to hydrogen that can be used as a clean fuel.

https://www.newscientist.com/article...lean-hydrogen/

[billgewater]

Let's get hypothetical. Suppose any government placed a ban or tax or legal barriers on the use or types of plastics. Can you imagine the screaming and denials from the indulged plastics industries. The politicians being payed off, the right wing press going ballistic. No? Well it certainly would fit past behavior with the tobacco industry, ozone, reducing gases, asbestos, the string of carcinogens we use, and of course the fossil fuel issue.
However, lurking in the background is the old adage that prevention is better than the cure. The problem is that we are not willing to pay for the prevention so we will pass on the curing to our children. Won't they just love us for that. The next time your grand kids are having a chat with you, you may care to apologize or explain how it was too difficult.
If you read up on the Anthropocene, it appears as though many geologists and anthropologists are suggesting that this era be defined by the conspicuos layer of plastics in the sediment profiles. Followed by our demise. Aren't we clever eh?
The usual reply to the above is that we all benefit from plastics. e.g. syringes, ropes, fabrics, containers, our plastic boats, ... the list is endless, but that is even more reason why we should be proactive at the personal and political level to introduce some remediation practices.
Human behaviour is generally such that personal considerations overwhelm societal ones and this is a classic case. We use plastics because they are better than many alternatives and the industry moguls get extremely rich on our profligate use of plastics. Sadly most governments who depend on voters and industry support also absolve themselves of all responsibility. When did a presidential candidate ever raise the issue of plastic pollution? Like on other existential issues, we are not well led.
It's a hard row to hoe, but at least we should give some support for the outboard motor water filter scheme, ineffective as it may seem.
Last time you were in a food market, did you use those thin plastic bags? Did you really, really need to? Have you ever joined a local beach clean up program? Do you support and use recycling of you own plastic, metal and glass waste products? Do you smoke and leave butts laying around?
When the plastic pollution is "in your face" e.g, on some Asian beaches, reefs, gyres, drainage systems, some public places such sports arenas, it can be really confronting, but heh, we just move on.
Nothing to see here. Not our problem.
I do like RaymondR's suggestion though. He touched on two basic issues. One is the need for some legislation involving taxing the miscreants, and secondly, using that tax levy to address the matter. His suggestion won't be a panacea, but the model seems correct in that it deals with the problem at both ends. But we also need to address the middle issue which involves not using plastics or finding better non polluting alternatives.

[RaymondR]

Originally Posted by Jim Cate

Hmm... the target material is MICRO-plastics. The particle size is very small. A filter that can remove it will be very fine. Very fine filters have a lot of pressure drop if there is significant flow, as in cooling water. Very fine filters clog easily, with either the designated plastic or with biologicals that are present in much ocean water or silt that is present in river waters. A clogged filter will reduce flow. Reduced flow will cause overheating in an outboard (or any water cooled engine).

What could possibly go wrong???

Jim

One of the problems with trying to separate this stuff from water is that the densities are so close that any of the G intensifying devices such as hydroclones or decanting centrifuges don't work very effectively. If you were doing it industrially one of the porous screen type devices would probably be used.

Looking at it from a long term consequences viewpoint, if it's passing into the fish without any health consequences and does the same to us they might eventually be able to stop using it in cosmetics and sun screen, why put it on you if you're already full of it..

[JC Reefer]

Originally Posted by Jim Cate

Hmm... the target material is MICRO-plastics. The particle size is very small. A filter that can remove it will be very fine. Very fine filters have a lot of pressure drop if there is significant flow, as in cooling water. Very fine filters clog easily, with either the designated plastic or with biologicals that are present in much ocean water or silt that is present in river waters. A clogged filter will reduce flow. Reduced flow will cause overheating in an outboard (or any water cooled engine).

What could possibly go wrong???

Jim

It won’t cause overheating. The filter is added as a second path as the water is flowing out. Once clogger, water will just take the original path through the cooling system.

But your point, it will clog very fast. This is nothing other than a marketing stunt. If added to all motors then I’m sure people will just remove it or never clean it with the same results

[zstine]

I repeatedly hear "this idea is not enough" arguments against all kinds of green tech..

Every little bit counts. Are there no competitors/racers on this forum? We go through heck to reduce a few pounds on a 10,000 pound race boat. We wet sand the bottom, we change an Aluminum tiller for a carbon one, dynemma replaced stainless life lines. etc... Every little bit counts. That's how you succeed. The plastic didn't get there from 1 source and there's no 1 solution to get rid of it.

Good on Suzuki. Maybe all manufactures will follow and maybe it will go commercial. Has to start somewhere... you just can't have that old ignorant attitude that "my little footprint doesn't matter" when it comes to pollution. Everyone needs to Reduce, Reuse, Recycle.

[RaymondR]

Originally Posted by zstine

I repeatedly hear "this idea is not enough" arguments against all kinds of green tech..

Every little bit counts. Are there no competitors/racers on this forum? We go through heck to reduce a few pounds on a 10,000 pound race boat. We wet sand the bottom, we change an Aluminum tiller for a carbon one, dynemma replaced stainless life lines. etc... Every little bit counts. That's how you succeed. The plastic didn't get there from 1 source and there's no 1 solution to get rid of it.

Good on Suzuki. Maybe all manufactures will follow and maybe it will go commercial. Has to start somewhere... you just can't have that old ignorant attitude that "my little footprint doesn't matter" when it comes to pollution. Everyone needs to Reduce, Reuse, Recycle.

Yep that'e what we need, all manufacturers making symbolic responses whilst the real issues go unaddressed.

Simply reverting to all cotton fabrics rather than cotton/synthetic fabrics would do more to solve the microplastics problem than a zillion outboards with filters.

[waterman46]

Originally Posted by ArmyDaveNY

This idea is nothing more than marketing. Actually, it is worse than that. It adds needless complexity to the engine, consumes additional resources, and adds unnecessary expense and complexity to a product.

Any moron can see that the minuscule amount of water that is pumped through an outboard is not going to make any difference. Yes, totally a marketing ploy.



But worse that all that, this is another "feel good" but totally ineffective idea that makes people think they are doing something useful. So they go ahead and buy their drinks in plastic bottles, or at least don't consider more effective but costly approaches, since they rationalize that their outboard will remove the plastic they are contributing.

[Sailing Ohm]

Why is so many people’s first reaction about this to be negative and pessimistic? This is an great innovation. While it’s not the saving grace we need any little bit helps and soon this tech will get scaled up to larger ships/ boats and hopefully that will start helping the problem. Have you ever seen how much water gets filtered through a 600’ container ship? It’s not inconsequential.