HYDR
HYDR is a cost-effective and eco-friendly riverine litter skimmer that uses modular booms and natural river currents to collect floating waste without relying on machinery or causing environmental harm.
HYDR is a cost-effective and highly impactful riverine litter skimmer that is named after the multi snake-headed Hydra, a serpentine water monster in Greek and Roman mythology. The sustainable solution of HYDR relies entirely on the current of the river in order to target floating/submerged riverine litter particles. Much like the members of the Hydra genus, HYDR draws in and passes on its ‘prey’ (collected litter) to the ‘mouth’ (collection zone) with its ‘tentacles’ (modular booms). The fundamental components of HYDR consist of rigid, semi-submerged booms that can be easily interconnected as needed.
Unlike traditional containment booms with a deeper draft to contain waste and/or oil, the HYDR boom skims the water surface to create a series of whirlpools on the downstream side of the boom. The suction force generated by the series of whirlpools diverts floating riverine litter particles towards the collection zone for retrieving. The solution is adaptive as it can be attached either to a workboat or to the riverbank. HYDR operates as a passive waste filtration system, utilizing the natural power source of the river current to filter and skim litter from the water's surface. When in deployment, HYDR causes no additional stress or pollution (noise, exhaust, etc) to the environment (neither above, nor below the surface). Unlike other methods, HYDR does not rely on machinery or built-in drive systems.
AQPLA.
The Sustainable Development and Technologies National Programme of the
Hungarian Academy of Sciences (FFT NP FTA) supported the further development of the model and practical application at the Budapest University of Technology and Economics.