About Seaponji Buoy
Seaponji is a buoy that eases the negative impacts of the chemicals substances of sunscreen spilled in the sea. This buoy uses
a nano filter mechanism inspired by the membrane function of the leucon sponges.
Parts of the Buoy
Seaponji Buoy is divided into three main parts, the upper part that contains air that allows it to float, the body that contains biotechnology that biomimics the filter function of sponges and the lower part that consists of a compartment where the chemical recolected is stored.
"Our team knows this is a long experimental route, so we decided to split the development of the project in 2 phases. Right now, we are still working on the process of the first one that is explained below"
Phase 1 of Seaponji project development
This phase focuses on the experimentation of graphene membranes for separating the chemical substances from the untreated water taking into account the diameter of the pores in it. Also we are working to establish the volume of sunscreen substances regained after the filter process.
01
The untreated water enters through the nano pores (10.000 nm) of the Seaponji Buoy thanks to the surge.
02
The untreated water passes through a set of micrometric canals using tangential flow. In other words, the liquid would flow parallel to the filter in order to reach a group of nano cameras.
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Once in the cameras, the benzophenone is separated from the water using layered graphene membranes of an atomic size. When these are disconnected in sections, they generate filtering pores to capture the nanoparticles of benzophenone according to their diameter.
After the membranes separate the chemicals, these will transport at the bottom of the Buoy to keep them in a compartment.
A worker from the organization Corales de paz will come to remove the chemicals from the compartment.
Installation
Corales de paz organization will install the Seaponji Buoy 12 meters from the coast with a dead weight attached to it. The installation takes 2-3 hours in order to cover all the limited area for the tourists.
Materials
Seaponji Buoy is constructed using plastic PEEK (Polyether ether ketone). A material that has a high resistance to abrasion, can be recycled and has high impact resistance.
Another chance...
After the sunscreen chemicals are collected from the compartment of Seaponji Buoy, they´ll pass through a cleaning process to eliminate possible impurities. Then they are kept and distributed to the cosmetic industry as auxiliary materials for their products. For example brands like L'oreal, Avon and Mary Kay use a low percentage of sunscreen compounds in order to make hair dye, shampoos, and mascaras tough to UV radiation.
They can contact us through our web page so we can take their order to send the exact amount of chemicals necessary to them.
Alliances
We are making an alliance with Corales de paz, who are a group of entrepreneurs who are focused on coral reef conservation. Right now they’re working in the regeneration of this ecosystem gardening new corals.
That's the reason we’re proposing them to help us not only in the intallation of our buoy, but also to train any person who is going to collect the chemicals from the compartment of the Seaponji Buoy. They would benefit through the filter system we are making, because this will ease the impacts of some pollutants in order to give them a more healthier environment for the corals they are growing.
