Project description
A solution for eco-friendly affordable dredging
Dredging is a widely used practice in waterways for removing sediments and debris. The environmental concerns associated with dredging include turbidity at the point of dredging and at the point of discharge, as well as mobilisation, dissolution and dispersion of pollutants retained in the sediments. The EU-funded Toolbot project proposes a solution ideal for dredging activities in difficult to reach areas like ports, marinas and dams. Their high accuracy Dredging ROV (Remote Operated Vehicle) prototype developed through the Spanish CDTI in the e-Corydora project, is currently in a TRL 7 stage and in the patent process in the EPO. The project has also developed a discharge buoy to redirect the dredged sediments to the seabed avoiding water column contamination.
Objective
Dredging is an essential part of economy, allowing waterways and relevant infrastructure to operate at optimal capacity in favour of global distribution of goods.
It involves the removal of particles of sand, clay, silt and other substances deposited in the bottoms of coastal areas, ports and estuaries, navigable river beds... and is necessary to maintain the draft of the ports and fill their extensions, eliminate contaminated sediments or mitigate the effects of storms, creation of land and beaches, fishing and aquaculture, etc.
Impacts includes turbidity at the point of dredging and at the point of discharge, and mobilisation, dissolution and dispersion of pollutants retained in the sediments. Actually, dredging activities are being reoriented due to environmental awareness and legal restrictions.
Toolbot offers a solution for the last mile dredging operations where spots are hard to reach, where underneath infrastructures must be maintained or when conventional methods are oversized to actuate with precision. We make possible recurrent maintenance dredging in ports and marinas even in water dams due to an easy mobilisation by road truck using an underwater dredger vehicle.
Our high accuracy Dredging ROV (Remote Operated Vehicle) prototype was developed through the Spanish CDTI in the e-Corydora project, finished in 2018, and it is currently in a TRL 7 and in the patent process in the EPO.
Aiming at having a cost-effective and ecological integral dredging system, we have also developed a complementary discharge buoy that redirects the dredged sediments to the seabed avoiding the water column contamination.
In this way, the idea is disruptive and breaks the market.
Fields of science
Programme(s)
Funding Scheme
SME-1 - SME instrument phase 1Coordinator
35010 LAS PALMAS DE GRAN CANARIA
Spain
The organization defined itself as SME (small and medium-sized enterprise) at the time the Grant Agreement was signed.