Floating Booms: A Solution To Environmental Problems

Today, environmental problems in the ocean and coastal waters have become significant challenges for governments and companies. These problems include oil spills, floating trash, debris, aquatic weed, etc. Floating booms are one of the most effective solutions to solve these problems. There are different types of floating booms, and each one has its uses. Floating booms can also be applied to solve other issues than environmental problems, and their scope of application is much broader than that. However, this article mainly discusses the environmental issues floating booms are addressing.

Below, you can access the headings of this article:

• What is the floating boom?
• What is the application of floating boom barriers?
• What are the types of floating booms?
• Are floating booms only used for environmental issues?
• Conclusion

what is the floating boom?

Floating booms are utilized to create a barrier to stop oil spills, debris, aquatic plants and algae, trash, and even marine life. Your floating boom can be made to exclude, deflect, or contain debris, depending on how you place it. To lessen the risk of contaminating shorelines and other resources, floating booms restrict the spread of oil, floating trash, debris, aquatic weed, etc. Although boom designs and building methods vary greatly, all typically incorporate the following four fundamental components:

1- An above-water "freeboard."

2- A flotation device

3- A below-water "skirt."

4- A "longitudinal support."

What is the application of floating boom barriers?

Floating boom barriers are made to keep out or contain floatable items, including seaweed, floating trash, oil spills, floating debris, and invasive species of plants. These barriers have a tried-and-true robust design for a long service life with minimal field maintenance. Below you can see pictures of different uses of floating booms:

What are the types of floating booms?

Floating booms can be classified based on factors such as water conditions, type of waste, etc. In this part of the article, we divided the floating canvases into the following three categories based on the water conditions:

1- Fence booms are the least useful in stormy water, where wave and wind action can force the boom to twist due to its high freeboard and flat flotation device.

2- Round or curtain booms have a continuous skirt and a more elliptical flotation device. Despite being more challenging to clean and store than fence booms, they function well in choppy water.

3- There are numerous shapes for inflatable or non-rigid booms. They work well in choppy waters and are simple to clean and store. However, they are frequently more expensive, difficult to operate, and prone to punctures and deflation.

It should be noted that this classification is based on water conditions only. While based on the type of application of floating booms, they can be divided into the following categories:

1- Safety booms

2- Security booms

3- Trash and Debris booms

4- Containment booms

5- Ice booms

Are floating booms only used for environmental issues?

As you read in the previous parts of this article, booms have different uses. The main application of the floating boom is for environmental issues of seas, rivers, and coastal areas. But floating booms have other uses in addition to environmental applications, some of which we mention:

1- Sometimes, floating booms, known as safety booms, are used to separate high-risk areas from other water areas. These booms have different types that you can see in our products.

2- There are other types of booms known as security booms. They protect commercial ports, naval bases, force protection, and many other critical sites, such as docks, power stations, and airport runways. Security booms have different types that you can see our products.

Conclusion

In today's world, water pollution has become one of the fundamental human problems and has imposed many costs on governments and companies. One of the solutions to control this pollution (oil spills, garbage, seaweed, etc.) is to use different types of floating boom barriers. In this article, we introduced floating booms, their structure, types of floating booms, and other uses (except for environmental issues).

As the Bolina Booms representatives in Canada, ADOR Tech offers a full range of Floating Booms Products and services. For more information, please contact us.