A remotely controlled smart skimmer boat by the Dubai Municipality (DM) has been scouring the emirate’s waterways lifting out plastic bottles, tyres and other debris every day since the beginning of this year.
The skimmer is part of the civic body’s 14-boat squad that mans the 35-kilometre-long waterway around the emirate from sunrise to sunset, moving from Deira to Dubai Water Canal, throughout the entire year.
“All our boats have a captain and manual labour but we wanted to create something that could be controlled and operated remotely,” said Hussain Abbas Hamad, specialised Hygiene Section Manager at DM. “The skimmer has a hydraulic lift which can carry up to 1,000kg of debris, which means there is no need for labour. Right now it runs on diesel but from next year, we will start making these skimmers electric.”
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A model of the smart skimmer boat was displayed at DM’s stand on the first day of the Water, Energy, Technology, and Environment Exhibition (WETEX) which kicked off in Dubai on Tuesday. First organised in 1999, WETEX is a platform for displaying the latest technological advancements and discussing trends in water, energy, environmental sustainability and renewable energy.
Years of trial and error
According to Hussain, years of trial and error went into developing the skimmer. “We had some people bring technology from other countries but it wasn’t really suited for our conditions,” he said. “We had a boat from the Netherlands but it was more suited to rivers in their country and not the Dubai creek. We learnt from all the trials and then developed our own system locally.”
The skimmer is equipped with cameras all around it to ensure that it doesn’t cause any accidents. “Our creek is busy with boats coming in and going at all times,” he said. “There are wooden dhows and abras so we have to ensure that the skimmer doesn’t obstruct other boats.”
He said the machine also has artificial intelligence to determine what kind of waste is most commonly found and where it is concentrated. “Since we only started in January this year, it is too early for us to give any insights,” he said. “By the end of the year, we will know exactly how many kilograms of waste we collected. However, we have noticed that the most common debris is plastic bottles. We have also seen wooden parts from boats, tyres and other such kinds of debris.”
Other technology
With a focus on sustainability, several companies unveiled groundbreaking new technology at the exhibition. Fuel company Enoc displayed their first smart biodiesel solar station — a first of its kind biodiesel truck that runs on solar energy. Named Enoc Link, the vehicle builds on the company’s vision to make fuel more sustainable.
The CEO of Enoc Link, Faisal Al Qahtani, explained how the truck works. “Biodiesel is made from waste cooking oil, which is collected and mixed with diesel,” he said. “We began delivering this to our clients in our truck, which runs on solar energy. Soon, we will introduce the digital delivery of Adblue, a component which when added to fuel, reduces carbon emissions from vehicles.”