Page 10: of Maritime Reporter Magazine (March 2015)

TECH FILE

Moskito to Recover Oil from Sunken Wrecks tool for removing oil in sub- How it Works the tank without allowing any of its con- sponsored research and development merged vessels was developed Moskito is able to be deployed by div- tents to escape. With the hose securely organization.

A in Norway by Miko Marine. ers or by an ROV to any ocean depth. in position a subsea pump can be acti- The name of the tool was the inevitable

Moskito is designed to address the pollu- Once in position outside the tank the vated to extract the oil at the rate of up consequence of its working similarity to tion threat that exists with the large num- Moskito’s three magnetic feet are plant- to 12 cu. m. per hour and send it to the the unpopular insect. Just like the insect bers of sunken ships around the world ed against the steel hull and a technician surface for safe and non-polluting recov- it has to be light, versatile and adaptable that still contain signi? cant quantities of on the surface activates a 75 mm (3- ery. If it becomes necessary to relocate because when a ship settles on the seabed oil in their tanks as cargo or bunker fuel. inch) diameter electrically powered tank the Moskito it can be easily repositioned there is no knowing how its tanks will

Many of the thousands of ships sunk cutter drill. With its operation controlled without being returned to the surface. come to rest. However, with a visual in- during WWII now have seventy years of through a dual video link, the Moskito’s Being such a compact device it is also spection and by studying the plans of the corrosion eating at their plates and the drill pierces the steel tank walls which easy to use multiple units close together vessel a means of attack can be found. days are drawing closer when the pollut- may be up to 40 mm (1.5-inches) thick. if a higher rate of extraction is required. The Moskito is then delivered to the out- ants could escape. The cut disc then falls away inside and side of the tank where it penetrates its

Options include sealing the wreck or is immediately followed into the tank by Emerging from R&D skin and inserts its proboscis so that the recovering the pollutant in a controlled a patented spring latch coupling that au- Moskito arose from a research and liquid inside can sucked out. The insect manner, which Moskito seeks to do. tomatically connects and locks a hose to development project launched by Miko allusion falls short of the engineering

Marine in 2012. It attracted the interest reality but the principle is the same and of the Norwegian Coastal Administra- measuring just 65 cm (25-inches) by 45 tion (NCA) which had been grappling cm (17-inches) and weighing only 80 kg, with the same pollution problem being by subsea engineering standards the tool caused by spontaneous leaks from sunk- has an insect’s light touch. en wrecks around Norway’s coastline. “This was not an easy product to de-

NCA decided to support Miko Marine’s velop as it required us to call upon our quest to ? nd a solution and the two orga- highest standards of engineering and nizations joined forces with the backing design,” said Nicolai Michelsen, GM, of Innovation Norway, a government- Miko Marine. www.miko.com

The Moskito name comes from the fact that it is designed to work much like the annoying insect. Moskito is delivered to the outside of the (sunken ship’s) tank where it penetrates its skin and inserts its proboscis so that the liquid inside can sucked out. 10 Maritime Reporter & Engineering News • MARCH 2015

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