Outboard engines: removing microplastics from the sea with each use

[Kayakeur]

Originally Posted by BlackHeron

Ridiculous.

This is why I rarely spend my money buying anything new when perfectly good items made in better times are cheaper, less-complicated, and finally more robust because of this.

They don't build 'em like they used to. My 25 year old 2-stroke outboard is still going strong and will probably outlast many (if not most) new 4-strokes sold in the USA today even with what life still remains in it after decades of previous loyal service.

A little bit of smoke -or a chain of disposable 4-strokes getting landfilled instead. Not to mention all that filthy gear oil that may or may bot be disposed of properly in many corners of the planet or gets slowly spilled by failing gaskets and seals as the machine ages.

I refuse to pay the "virtue-signalling tax" on these new "improved" greenwashed machines.

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I just bought a new Tohatsu 6hp 4-stroke to replace the 45 year old 6hp 2-stroke Johnson which still works. But it smokes especially when starting and leaves a sheen of oil. I cannot accept that. Maybe new gaskets on the lower unit would help, maybe new rings, I don't know, but if I saw someone else running this engine I wouldnt like it, so how can I excuse myself. So I'm not even going to sell the old 6hp, which I could probably get a couple of hundred for (which is a meaningful amount to me). (If you have expertise to make it not smoke, message me. It's still in the shed, I'm in Virginia.)

Besides, full disclosure, the new pull-start Tohatsu has an alternator to partially recharge my house battery.

Kayakeur Bud June 10, 2021

[Kayakeur]

Originally Posted by southatlantic

“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.”

2. If this idea gets picked up by commercial shipping, as others have pointed out, it will begin to make a little difference. Every bit counts.

3. It will help educate boaters on the microplastic issue. My long gone dad stopped smoking (used to smoke two packs a day for over 20 years) a few months after he started using a cigarette holder with a filter. Cleaning the filter from all the disgusting tar daily was a real lesson for him on what had been going into his lungs...

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Commercial shipping: shipping companies may put pressure on manufacturers and although that is a small force it adds to pressure from many other businesses.

Educating boaters / increasing awareness: A few cupfuls of microplastic from the outboard may make that boater think about microplastic pollution when he or she buys something with microplastics (hair conditioner in the bottle with glittery look, kids' toys, crayons, glittery cake icing). Over a period of years he or she mentions it to others, people read news articles, it all adds up.

With everything in this world, people will not perceive a problem if they cannot see it, can't smell it, feel it, hear it. Cleaning out a gross filter, seeing it, makes the problem real. Cigarettes were not made un-cool in a year.

[thinwater]

Compare the pumping energy (fuel burned) to the amount of plastic recovered.



I seriously doubt the math works. There is a serious amount of plastic in the ocean, but in terms of grams/gallon (estimates seem to be in the <0.1 ppm range, and most of that will not be removed by a motor filter because it is either too big (will not pass inlet strainer) or too small (filter is not infinitely fine). You would probably have to pump 20-50,000,000 gallons to recover 1 gram of plastic, and that would take about 10,000 hp-hours. That's one thousand gallons of fuel.


The math for pumped filtration simply does not work. Not within thousands of times of reasonable. This feature will actually harm the environment.



I lean to the left and I'm quite green, but this is an example of the dumb stuff gullible people believe.



Start by ALWAYS picking up litter. Far more efficient.

[donradcliffe]

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

The filter which is fine enough to remove the microplastic is also fine enough to remove the plankton.