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The key component of the AEROS System© is the AEROS HydraHead AUV©, a remotely operated vehicle. This is a self-propelled system which physically sucks in the surrounding oil and surface water, separates the oil from the sea water very quickly, and pumps the separated oil into large floating oil bags.
The AEROS HydraHead AUV© will be able to process up to 3,000 gallons of oil and seawater per minute (that's 180,000 gallons per hour (GPH) for each AEROS HydraHead AUV©). It has the amazing capacity to process the intake liquids in any proportions, even with sudden surges in the % of the oil content - that's equivalent to 1.8 million gallons in only 10 hours for each AEROS System attacking the spill.
By comparison, conventional shipborne oil spill recovery equipment known as "skimmers" have process capacity ranges from 22 GPM up to 176 GPM. The AEROS airborne system has a fully automated variable process capacity from 300 to 3,000 GPM. A brief summary of the process capacities of some of the most popular convential shipborne oil skimmers is as follows:
- FasFlow Skimmer: 132 GPM
- Komara Star Skimmer: 66 GPM
- RBS Skimmers: range from 22 up to 176 GPM
There is also one very large shipborne system, the TRANSREC 350 Oil Skimmer, that has a maximum capacity up to 1,500 GPM (made by Frank Mohn of Norway). This system is generally not used anymore due to its enormous size and weight. (For details visit the website. )
The AEROS HydraHead AUV© handles rapid surges of oil content in the intake liquids while maintaining separation and recovery efficiencies. A very large spill may use 10 or 20 AEROS systems to maximize recovery.
Two cycloidal thrusters on the vehicle's propulsion system give the vehicle amazing maneuverability and navigational stability with minimum turbulence at the surface of the water. This is a big advantage over screw-type propellers and helps to increase the oil spill recovery efficiencies of the system.
The AEROS Hydra-Head AUV has two large weirs which funnel the surface oil and water down into pumps which force liquids up into the pressure chambers containing large numbers of hydrocyclone oil-water separators. The separated oil is then pumped out of the vehicle through a flexible, floating hose out to the AEROS floating oil bag storage and transfer system. Floating oil storage bags are now commercially available for use in AEROS Systems©. GRG is re-engineering these systems for parachute deployment.
GRG’s Demonstration Model of the AEROS Oil-Water Separation System: Notice that all the air + oil molecules are instantly squeezed into the central core of the spinning liquids. Due to a controlled pressure differential at each end of the separation chamber, all the oil molecules flow to the left while the separated clean water all flows to the right.
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Live Demonstration of AEROS oil-water separation system. Notice the absolutely clean water exiting from the water collection chamber (left side) after being separated from the oil-water mixture. Also notice the black oil exiting from the oil collection chamber (right side) after being separated from the oil-water mixture. Both liquids are dumped into the oil spill mixing tank and recycled via the high pressure pump to flow again through the separation chamber. The AEROS system is extremely efficient and can effectively separate the oil and water even with sudden surges in the oil content of the intake stream. Each full-scale AEROS Hydra-Head AUV oil spill recovery vehicle will have the capacity to process over 2,000 gallons per minute and the internal separation efficiencies are not affected by the up & down motion of the vehicle caused by ocean waves.
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