Ingegno Project

The project “Innovative vessels for plastic collection at sea” co-financed by the Calabria Region aimed to develop a technology capable of removing plastic and, more generally, floating waste in confined water bodies.
Main activities: design and testing of a modular vessel, development and validation of the numerical model, demonstration in an industrially relevant environment of the craft.

Experimental activities conducted directly at sea at the NOEL laboratory in Reggio Calabria to verify stability, buoyancy, navigability and maneuverability characteristics, as well as to demonstrate basic functionalities (plastic and floating waste collection) and one of the additional functionalities (hydrocarbon absorption).

Results: Two different vessel configurations developed and tested

• ECB-small (4m × 3m), designed for small ports and marinas
• ECB-big (7m × 4.5m), developed for medium-large tourist and commercial ports and for short external routes, in favorable weather-sea conditions.