A new hydrogen powered technology developed in South Korea is being used to help solve microplastic pollution without generating greenhouse gas emissions.
This new hydrogen tech autonomos truck, called Omphalos, was designed with a number of microplastic collecting systems to help solve that environmental issue. According to the designer behind the concept, Cheolhee Lee, a resident of South Korea, one of the largest causes of microplastics in our world is tire wear. In fact, according to Nokian Tyres, “wear particles from tire and road materials are the second largest primary source. Together, these primary sources form 15-31% of the microplastics in the oceans, that is, less than one-third.”
That’s just in our world’s oceans, not including the atmosphere. Well, the Omphalos (meaning navel) is designed to help solve this problem with an array of microplastic-collecting systems, and its hydrogen propulsion only adds to its existing environmental contributions.
The designer believes that the hydrogen tech Omphalos will be helpful at airports.
One of the main settings where the designer sees this concept hard at work is at an airport. This is partly because the Omphalos is also created to simply carry cargo from terminal to terminal or between logistics hubs. That part is simple enough and doesn’t require much grey matter power to grasp. Airports make a good place to operate this type of microplastics collecting vehicle because of the number of other vehicles that are continually operating there.
By choosing hydrogen fuel to power these microplastics collecting vehicles, the Omphalos can operate continually, all day and night if needed, with only brief minutes-long refuelling sessions when required. This is unlike battery-powered equipment, which requires lengthier charging times, reducing the ability to use the vehicles continually across back-to-back shifts.
The hydrogen fuel propelled Omphalos was designed to operate autonomously, without the requirement for a human operator and has a purpose to help ensure that the microplastics are removed from the ground before they can be washed into local waterways or swept up into the atmosphere.
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At the moment, the Omphalos is just a concept. The idea was presented through YUID Online Exhibition Degreeshow, a group aimed at showcasing concepts that cause us to look at things a bit differently.
Original article here.
Our work with hydrogen
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We believe hydrogen could solve some of the energy transition’s biggest hurdles: storage, clean energy distribution, industry usage and heavy transport. Discover more about our solutions here.