a) Department of Physics, Faculty of Mathematics and Natural Sciences, Institut Teknologi Bandung, Bandung 40132, Indonesia
*viridi[at]itb.ac.id
b) Department of Mathematics, Faculty of Mathematics and Natural Sciences, Institut Teknologi Bandung, Bandung 40132, Indonesia
c) Department of Chemistry, Faculty of Mathematics and Natural Sciences, Institut Teknologi Bandung, Bandung 40132, Indonesia
Abstract
Plastic objects are materials that are extensively used in everyday life both on an individual and industrial scale. However, some plastic objects end up in the oceans as marine debris that pollutes the oceans. In the last half-century, large concentrations of plastic object have polluted the oceans, with harmful effects on marine wildlife and potentially on human health. To recover plastic objects from the oceans, a new method of separation can be used. In this paper, the physical properties of plastic objects were examined and related to the drift velocities of the object, as well as their effective volume, and drag coefficient, with respect to wave characteristics. The sample contained four variations of a floating object. The wave-induced drift of plastic object was evaluated. Moreover, the effect of the size, shape, and density of the objects was also analyzed. The findings revealed that the density and shape differences between the object resulted in the ratio between the drift velocity of the object and water wave celerity, which were significantly higher in the object with a small density and a sphere form. The results obtained show that the wave-induced drift of floating objects is a potential method for plastics separation.
