Vor-Tek Marine Technologies will make algae blooms and oil spills a thing of the past
Vor-Tek Marine Technologies leads the advancement of marine cleanup technologies and innovation
Fort Lauderdale, Florida (October 29, 2018) – Vor-Tek Marine Technologies and Lauderdale Diver announced today the launch of their new recovery and cleanup technologies. Born from the X Prize Foundation, Vor-Tek Marine Technologies allows for rapidly deployable, and highly efficient methods of capturing and removing marine pollutants from the ocean surface and below with their patented system called the Emergency Extraction Line or the EEL.
“We are excited to bring Vor-Tek to South Florida, and be part of the advancement of new technologies for the protection of the ocean and help solve our algae bloom problem,” said Ashley Day, CEO of Vor-Tek. “This year’s red tide highlighted the need for new technologies and recovery capabilities to be available for rapid and efficient deployment, in all locations where pollutants enter our Oceans, beaches, harbors and waterways. The entire marine industry should be mobilizing to help to improve the environmental safety standards that should be the norm for ocean protection as marine environments are essential to our modern lives.”
Vor-Tek Marine Technologies began operations in 2010, and now headquartered in Fort Lauderdale, as an environmental technology company founded for the purpose of creating groundbreaking environmental innovation for a cleaner planet. Vor-Tek Marine Technologies embodies the passion and determination of individuals from different backgrounds with the mutual goal of cleaning our Oceans, lakes, rivers and streams from algae blooms, marine plastics, oil spills and land based pollutants which continually enter our marine environments and destroying our ecosystem. The issue of the Pacific Trash Vortex has been particularly important to us and has itself became a launch pad for a number of ideas and innovations targeting marine pollution such as our patented Emergency Extraction Line System (E.E.L) which focuses on oil extraction from our oceans. The E.E.L is patented technology and is the first reliable and scalable solution for maritime oil and waste cleanup not only at the surface but at variable depths below the surface. This is particularly important as petroleum products and algae blooms tend to suspend just below the surface after a period of time making the majority of technologies ineffective for any type of capture or clean up process.
While working on prototypes for an innovative passive collection device intended as a solution to remove some of the plastic in the North Pacific Gyre, Mr. Day was asked if the device could collect oil. Since the device is intended to collect many types of debris, including algae blooms, it only took a few modifications to update the functionality of the device to include large scale, high volume collection of pollutants in open water scenarios. The issue of the Pacific Trash Vortex has been particularly important to us and has itself become a launchpad for a number of ideas and innovations targeting marine pollution such as our patented Emergency Extraction Line System (E.E.L) which focuses on different pollutant extraction from marine environments. Mr. Day is also the Vice President and of TAV Holdings Inc., based out of Atlanta, Ga with 20 years of experience in developing and providing sustainable technological solutions to the largest metals recycling and materials recovery operations in the world.
In 2010 Vor-Tek Recovery Solutions LLC as “Team Vor-Tek” and as shown in the documentary “Spillbusters”, Vor-Tek entered into a worldwide X-prize Challenge for oil spill recovery technologies, and out of 15 different countries and over 400 applicants from some of the world’s largest oil spill companies, Vor-Tek was chosen as a top finalist with results that shattered the world record for Gallons collected per minute at the highest efficency rate of oil pollutant vs water ratios. This gained notoriety for Vor-Tek as it pushed technological advancements in the spill/pollutant recovery sector by setting the bar for what’s currently possible from an industry that is plagued with antiquated technologies and approaches to disaster scenarios. .
The primary purpose of the EEL system, which is capable of surrounding large areas of water, is to extract pollutants/water mixtures into boats or barges for further separation or destruction. It functions not only as a containment boom/barrier but also as an effective integrated extraction line capable of removing contaminants from water for processing through specialized separation systems.
The EEL system primarily can be described as a segmented boom that doubles as a high efficiency induction line capable of trapping and siphoning hazardous waste from surface and sub surface water.
The system works in concert with the most current state of the art pumps and the latest pollutant/water separators current technology has to offer. For any effective cleanup technology, speed of deployment is the BIG factor. The EEL system can be situated on any vessel, rig or dock as an immediate pre-emptive solution.
The EEL system is not only rapidly deployable in any emergency spill situation, but it can also be available as a fitted system for offshore rigs to be made active at the first signs of a leakage event.
This brings the EEL system into the market of industrial preventive maintenance as well as industrial emergency response methods that currently are outdated and ineffective. We have proven that we can solve many of the issues inherent in other technologies such as high volume extraction, sub-surface capabilities, durability and adaptability to all environments.
There is no existing solution to effectively clean oil and waste below the water’s surface. There have been no significant new developments in cleanup technologies for over 40 years.
