North of England Evening Meeting – Plastics in the Ocean

Polymers for Subsea Operations

Donald Faulds

Donald has worked for 20 years as an Engineering Manager on many subsea applications mainly associated with ROVs and remote intervention interfaces.He will share some of his knowledge and experience on using plastics subsea including the challenges of water absorption and the array of technical polymers available.There is no perfect polymer but there are some very good ones!

Modelling Ocean Plastic Distribution

Alethea Mountford

Plastic waste in the ocean has had extensive media coverage. Existing computer models have predicted the distribution of floating plastic, but the extent of plastic waste below the surface is still unclear. PhD student, Alethea will discuss the development of a computer model which predicts plastic waste throughout the water column by representing neutrally and negatively buoyant plastics alongside positively buoyant (floating) plastic. Alethea will also share experiences of sampling activities in a remote location in the Southern Ocean.

The Capture of Ocean Plastic

Lizzie Fowler

Lizzie is an undergraduate student, about to start her fourth year studying marine engineering. She will discuss her dissertation project on the use of floating boom systems to capture ocean plastic, including how the design of such a system effects plastic capture efficiency. She will also show some videos from her model testing.

Registration & Refreshments 6.00pm, Presentations 6.30pm