Supplementary Note: Continuous Oxidation of Marine SPCW

2026-02-08

Supplementary Note: Continuous Oxidation of Marine SPCW

This section provides additional technical clarification to support the core concept already presented.

Why Marine SPCW Must Be Evaluated Differently

Marine synthetic polymer compounds waste (SPCW) is fundamentally different from dry, land-based plastic waste. It is consistently exposed to seawater, salt, and biological fouling, making residual moisture unavoidable even after collection.

For this reason, performance should not be judged against dry-feed assumptions. Instead, marine SPCW must be evaluated under realistic dewatered conditions.

Based on measured operation:

• Dry SPCW (reference condition): ~100% relative oxidation performance
• Dewatered marine SPCW: ~70–80%
• Batch-style incineration: <30%
• Plasma-based systems: operational instability leading to system shutdown

The 70–80% range represents the practical upper bound for continuous oxidation of marine SPCW under real operating conditions.

Why Batch Incineration Is Structurally Unsuitable

Batch-style incinerators are not compatible with marine SPCW because:

• Residual moisture causes rapid thermal quenching during batch charging
• Each batch requires reheating, resulting in cumulative energy loss
• Feed variability cannot be corrected once a batch cycle begins
• Incomplete oxidation compounds across cycles

As a result, batch systems typically fail to exceed 30% effective oxidation when applied to dewatered marine SPCW.

Why Plasma Systems Fail in Practice

Although plasma systems can achieve extremely high temperatures in theory, they are operationally fragile in marine applications.

• Moist feed destabilizes plasma arcs
• Metallic contaminants trigger protective shutdowns
• Power fluctuations lead to system stoppage rather than performance degradation

In practice, plasma systems do not fail gradually — they stop, making them unsuitable for continuous marine operations.

Structural Basis for Continuous Oxidation in This System

The proposed approach relies on structural control rather than technological complexity.

Key elements include:

• Pre-treatment line: shredding, staged dewatering, and electromagnetic metal removal
• Continuous feeding of dewatered SPCW
• Multi-stage air injection through a central rod, forming stable air curtains
• Bottom-mounted automatic agitator, ensuring:
  • prevention of material stagnation
  • repeated exposure of partially oxidized material to high-temperature zones

Residence time is not fixed. It is actively controlled through feed rate, air nozzle height, and air injection intensity, allowing stable operation even with residual moisture.

Parallel Chambers: Capacity by Replication

Processing capacity is increased by operating multiple identical chamber units in parallel, rather than enlarging a single reactor.

This scale-out approach provides:

• operational redundancy
• fault isolation
• tolerance to heterogeneous feed conditions
• suitability for shipboard and remote deployments

On Energy Recovery

Heat generated during SPCW treatment may be reused onboard — for auxiliary turbine operation, steam generation, or electrical power.

However, energy recovery is not the objective of this system. The primary purpose is irreversible destruction of persistent synthetic polymers.

Any energy reuse should be understood as loss reduction, not waste-to-energy (WTE) optimization.

Key Takeaway

With appropriate pre-treatment and modular chamber design, marine SPCW can be processed continuously toward complete oxidation under realistic moisture conditions.

This approach succeeds where batch incineration underperforms and plasma systems fail operationally.