VORTYGON

Autonomous Recovery Platform for Oceanic Pollutants

A buoyancy-controlled vessel that recovers floating plastics and any liquid lighter than water, including oil spills. For large spills it can connect to a tanker through an umbilical.

Fully autonomous pollutant recovery

ARPOP is designed to operate without continuous human presence. It navigates to known or detected floating plastic concentrations (including major garbage patches), collects material into an onboard pool, and returns to port once the load is secured.

Unlike static barrier systems or conveyor-based approaches that require separate cargo ships, ARPOP is a self-contained platform: collection, buoyancy management, propulsion and return transit are handled by the same vessel.

The same vessel can recover oil spills. Because the lip skims anything floating on the surface, any liquid lighter than water — crude, diesel, fuel oil — enters the pool with the surface film. Water is pumped out; the lighter liquid remains. For large volumes, ARPOP can be connected to a tanker via an umbilical so recovered oil is transferred continuously instead of being limited by onboard capacity.

Buoyancy-controlled collection

The system works by controlling two primary variables through three sequential operating steps:

1. Water Inflow over the Lip

   Floating plastics and surface contaminants enter the collection pool over a controlled weir (the “lip”). The relative height of the flotation line to this lip determines inflow volume.

2. Water Pumped Out

   Pumps continuously remove water from the pool while retaining solids and lighter-than-water liquids. Increasing pump rate lowers the flotation line and reduces further inflow.

3. Transit Mode

   When the target load is reached, the pool is fully drained. The flotation line drops below the lip, sealing the collection volume against wave ingress for the return journey.

Key Advantage

The same power plant (diesel, battery, or hybrid solar) drives both the collection pumps and the propulsion/steering system. No external support vessels are required for cargo transfer during normal operations.

Current reference geometry

The critical design dimension is the height of the collection lip relative to the keel. By adjusting internal water volume, the vessel transitions between collection draft and sealed transit draft.

What ARPOP recovers