A Novel Method for Oil Spill Cleanup Through an Optimized Pragmatic Automated System

Oil spills are an urgent global problem that has been worsening over the last 4 years (ITOPF., 2023). Devastating nearby ecosystems and disrupting economies, they can contaminate water and cause long-lasting damage. For example, the multibillion-dollar fishing industry is affected severely by oil spills. Despite the development of efficient sorbents, the method of sorbent deployment ultimately decides the effectiveness of cleanup efforts. OCTOPAS (Oil Spill Cleanup through an Optimized Pragmatic Automated System), is a novel sorbent deployment method which cleans up oil spills much more efficiently than conventional methods. OCTOPAS has 2 main components, a digital app and a physical boat. Using a novel algorithm, OCTOPAS App generates the optimal path to deploy the sorbents. OCTOPAS Boat gets this instruction and deploys sorbents pragmatically. Using OCTOPAS to deploy sorbents is on average 217.9% more efficient than the conventional method. In the real world, OCTOPAS can be stowed on oil tankers, ready to be used immediately. This immediate deployment can limit the spread and improve the efficiency of oil spill cleanups by a significant margin.