Existing Projects & Landscape

Who is working on ocean plastic cleanup — collection methods, processing technology, partnerships, and where at-sea processing research can help

Existing Projects — Landscape Overview

The Claw is not a business competing for market share. It's an AI-driven research effort to solve a problem. If Ocean Polymers succeeds tomorrow, that's a win. If handing them this entire knowledge base accelerates their timeline, that's a win too. The goal is ocean plastic gone — not credit.

Project	Origin	Approach	Processing	Scale / Capacity	Funding	Status	Internal Findings	Partnership Angle
Ocean Polymers & InEnTec #13 1	UK / USA — ~2018	Plasma gasification on vessels (supertanker design)	InEnTec PEM — plasma at 5,000C+ (planned)	OP3 design: 200 tonnes/day. OP1: 10 tonnes/day.	CMG acquired for EUR 100M (2022), then divested (Oct 2024). Seeking new capital raise.	Pre-construction. Pivoting to Caribbean land-based first.	RED FLAG. OffshoreAlert links to Richard Fagan (GBP 62M fraud conviction). 8+ years, zero infrastructure. InEnTec PEM tech is legit — approach InEnTec directly, never through OP.	Most aligned. Same InEnTec PEM tech. Could hand them everything. Stationary platform research may solve problems their mobile approach faces.
Military & Industrial #18 12	Canada / USA — Various	Shipboard waste processing (not cleanup-specific)	PAWDS: plasma arc, 5,000C+. MAGS: auto-gasification. Both deployed.	PAWDS: 200 kg/hr on USS Ford. MAGS: 2,400+ kWh/day on cruise ships.	Government/military contracts. PyroGenesis publicly traded (TSX:PYR).	Commercially operational. Multiple ship certifications.	KEY PROOF. PAWDS on USS Ford = plasma works at sea (proven Oct 2022). PyroGenesis financially fragile though — $3.8M revenue, stock down 85% from peak. Terragon MAGS = backup option.	The technology proof. These systems exist and work at sea right now. Terragon created the IMO regulatory pathway for shipboard gasification.
Gaia First #16 1	France — ~2020	Gasification to green hydrogen at sea	Gasification to H2 + ammonia (planned)	Target: 25-50 tonnes/day. 2 ships for 90% GPGP (ambitious claim).	Sought EUR 750K initial. Partners: RINA, BREEZE Ship Design. Registered with UNESCO/UN SDGs.	Testing validated. No vessel built. Missed 2024 launch target.	VAPORWARE. 2/10 credibility. Every milestone missed. Claims 2 ships can clean 90% of GPGP — physically impossible. No team, no money, no vessel.	Hydrogen output pathway could complement plasma. RINA partnership (ship classification) is a useful connection.
The Manta — SeaCleaners #14 2	France — 2016	Sailing catamaran with onboard pyrolysis	Pyrolysis waste-to-energy	5,000-10,000 tonnes/year target. 1-3 tonnes/hr collection.	Non-profit. Corporate partnerships. Final construction capital being raised.	Under construction. Bureau Veritas approved. ~2026 launch.	DEAD. French entity bankrupt June 2024. Founder Yvan Bourgnon convicted of fraud (embezzlement from donors). Vessel never completed. Swiss entity may continue but credibility destroyed.	Their collection engineering + our processing research = knowledge exchange. Innovative sail/solar/pyrolysis hybrid.
Plastic Odyssey #15 3	France — ~2018	Demo vessel touring 30 cities, transferring recycling tech	Pyrolysis — 30 kg/hr (operational)	Demo scale. 30 kg/hr = ~260 tonnes/year. 15+ recycling technologies onboard.	Veolia, L'Occitane, Clarins, UNESCO.	Active. Sailing since late 2022. Only operational at-sea thermal project.	LEGIT but tiny. Only project actually sailing with thermal processing. Pyrolysis works but 30 kg/hr is demo-scale. Open-source tech library is genuinely useful. Mission-aligned.	Open-source tech platform (technology.plasticodyssey.org). Operational learnings invaluable. Aligned open-research mission.
The Ocean Cleanup #12 4	Netherlands — 2013	Floating barriers + river interceptors	None — bring to shore	25M kg removed in 2025. 45M kg all-time. 20+ river interceptors.	Non-profit. $25M from Airbnb co-founder. Kia, Maersk, Salesforce, Coca-Cola. Est. $100M+ raised total.	Active, scaling	DOMINANT PLAYER. 50M+ kg removed, 95% from rivers. System 03 costs $20-30M per unit, $5,000-8,900/tonne. Pivoted from stationary to towed after 7 failures — their stationary problems are solvable with FPSO approach. GPGP mapping data is invaluable.	Their GPGP hotspot mapping data is gold. They know exactly where plastic concentrates. Natural data partner.
Collection-Only Group #17 1	Global — Various	Manual, boat-based, autonomous, community	None — all bring to shore	4ocean: 40M+ lbs. Seabin: 1,100 units, 50 countries. Ocean Voyages: 385+ tonnes. Clearbot: 50+ tons.	Mix of non-profit, for-profit (4ocean sells bracelets), corporate.	All active	No deep dive yet. All collection-only — natural beneficiaries of at-sea processing.	Every collector benefits from at-sea processing. They are natural beneficiaries, not competitors.
Academic Research #19 1	USA, EU — 2017-2025	Published research on at-sea plastic-to-fuel	HTL, pyrolysis, plasma-to-H2 — all validated	Blue Diesel: 480% excess fuel at GPGP. EU CLAIM: TRL 7 shipboard pyrolizer built.	EU Horizon 2020, university grants (WPI, Harvard, Woods Hole).	Published. Science settled. Execution is the bottleneck.	No deep dive yet. Science is settled — 480% surplus energy validates the platform concept.	The research foundation for everything. 480% surplus energy means abundant power at a processing platform.