The Manta is an ecological 56 meter sailboat capable of collecting, processing and recovering large amounts of plastic waste.
Yvan Bourgnon, a French ocean adventurer, and his team from The Seacleaners organization have built The Manta, a 56-meter sailboat that collects plastic and turns it into fuel to keep running.
Each year 8 million plastic waste accumulates in the sea, a great problem for animals and the environment. It is estimated that 17 tons of plastic waste are dumped into the oceans every minute and that 1,400 marine species have already suffered its consequences. The UN assures that in 2050 there will be more waste than fish in the seas.
The sailboat’s goal: to collect floating debris in high-concentration areas before they sink or break down into microplastics and reuse them as fuel.
The Manta is a sailboat built with low carbon steel and powered by an advanced combination of sails and electric motors that devours the plastic of the sea.
The sailboat has an electric hybrid propulsion system that allows maneuvering at low speed for delicate operations and the collection of debris, of 2 or 3 knots.
The Manta can reach a maximum speed of 12 knots, counting for this with two wind turbines, solar panels, two hydrogenerators under the ship and with a waste-to-energy conversion unit.
A waste-to-energy unit converts plastic into electricity through the process of pyrolysis, which powers the ship and all its electrical equipment.
The ecological method barely emits CO2, so it pollutes the air little, and with which about 500 kW of renewable energy is obtained, which allows the sailboat to operate 75% of the time autonomously, and can move up to 20 hours at a time. day, for a week.
The objective: to capture 5 to 10,000 tons per year.
The Manta is capable of collecting by means of floating collection systems the waste that is up to one meter deep and that is larger than 10 millimeters, being able to rescue between 1 and 3 tons per hour. The vessel is expected to be ready by 2024.
