ECO-PLATFORM: A Solution for Solving Environmental Problems in Coastal Area

Abstract

The authors proposed a concept of “ECO-PLATFORM” for solving environmental problems that people have been facing and will face in and around the coastal area, setting their sights on the contribution from the viewpoint of the sea [1]. The Eco-Platform is a complex on a floating platform and has functions for solving social and environmental problems. The functions to be installed are generation of heat energy and electric power from combustible waste without introducing fossil energy, cascade use of heat energy, application of marine biotechnology for processing the sewage and for purifying eutrophic seawater, reproduction/regeneration of material and energy resources from manmade waste and sewage. All the functions to be installed are integrated systematically and efficiently. To ensure the realization of the concept, it is necessary to study/investigate the feasibility of systematic combination of functions and facilities installed on the Eco-Platform. The authors have been studying the required functions and size of each facility, probable waste/sewage/energy/resource input and output relations. After the studies on the desirable combination and arrangement of installed facilities, they also studied the energy and material balance of the total system from the technical standpoints to implement the Eco-Platform system. They will show as the results of the study that the Eco-Platform is technically feasible introducing technologies mainly developed in the latter half of the 20th century and will show possible combination of functions/facilities supposing waste/sewage disposal in Sakai-city, Osaka, Japan.