Shipboard Processing — At-Sea Proof & PAWDS

Draft High Research 1,077 words Created Mar 4, 2026

Shipboard & At-Sea Processing — Proof It Can Work on Water

The single most important finding in this research: plasma waste processing already operates at sea on US Navy aircraft carriers, and two organizations are already building ships to do exactly what The Claw proposes.

PyroGenesis PAWDS — Plasma on an Aircraft Carrier ★

PAWDS = Plasma Arc Waste Destruction System

This is the strongest existence proof for The Claw's concept. A plasma waste processing system that operates at sea, on a moving warship, in combat conditions.

Specifications

Metric	Value
Ships equipped	Gerald R. Ford-class supercarriers
Units delivered	4 PAWDS systems
Specific ships	CVN-78 USS Gerald R. Ford, CVN-79 USS John F. Kennedy
Processing capacity	200 kg/hour (~400+ lbs/hour, ~4.8 TPD)
Temperature	Over 5,000°C
Waste types	Paper, plastics, food, oily rags — minimal segregation required
Optional module	Waste oil processing
Startup	One-button rapid start-up and shutdown
Stealth	No visible plume or heat signature (military requirement)
Certification	Lloyd's Register MED Type Approval (solid waste + sludge oil)
Maiden deployment	October 2022 (USS Gerald R. Ford set sail)
Specified into	ALL future Gerald R. Ford-class supercarriers

How It Works

1. Waste fed to shredder (handles mixed waste, no sorting needed) 2. Shredder output goes to mill (converts to powder/lint) 3. Powder fed into plasma-fired eductor and chamber 4. Plasma destroys all organic material at 5,000°C+ 5. Output: inert residue + clean exhaust

Key Design Features

No refractory/brick materials — major advantage over traditional incinerators (lighter, less maintenance)
Scalable — designed to scale UP for cruise ships and DOWN for frigates/destroyers
Proven at sea — operational on active duty warship since October 2022

What This Means for The Claw

1. Plasma at sea is proven. Not theoretical. Not a lab test. Operating on a $13 billion warship. 2. PyroGenesis already makes marine-rated plasma torches. No need to reinvent. 3. The Navy solved the shredding problem — mixed waste, no sorting, one-button operation. 4. PAWDS processes 4.8 TPD on a MOVING warship. A STATIONARY platform is easier. 5. Military-grade reliability — if it works for the US Navy, it works.

PyroGenesis is the torch supplier for The Claw. Period.

SeaChange Ocean Solutions — The Closest Existing Project ★

California-based nonprofit partnered with InEnTec to deploy mobile PEM (Plasma Enhanced Melter) on a ship.

The Plan

1. First vessel processes 2 TPD of plastic at sea 2. Plastic heated to nearly 10,000°C (surface-of-the-sun temperature) 3. Vaporized and broken down into molecular components 4. Outputs: hydrogen-rich syngas (powers the operation) + inert glass (safe to release into ocean) 5. Scale to land-based PEM systems processing 125 TPD

Target Areas

Remote island locations lacking waste infrastructure
Developing nations
Regions near the ten major rivers responsible for 90% of ocean plastic input

Status

Partnership with InEnTec established
Vessel design underway
Pre-operational (as of last available information)

What This Means for The Claw

SeaChange is attempting THE EXACT SAME CONCEPT: plasma gasification of ocean plastic at sea, self-powered by syngas. The difference: SeaChange is a mobile ship that moves to the plastic. The Claw is a stationary station that plastic is brought to.

Potential collaboration/merger opportunity? Or competitor to watch?

Ocean Saviour Vessel — The Big Blue Ocean Cleanup

The Design

70-meter tri-deck cleanup vessel
Designed to be self-powering using plasma gasification
Manta Collector Array systems at sides and front draw in plastics
Onboard conveyor chops and mills plastic
Fed into onboard plasma gasification facility
Syngas fuels the vessel itself

Technology Source

Plasma technology derived from PyroGenesis PAWDS — the same system on the USS Gerald R. Ford
PyroGenesis providing the torch technology

Status

Design phase
Pre-construction

What This Means

Another organization building a self-powered plasma-processing ocean cleanup vessel. The concept is convergent — multiple groups independently arriving at the same solution.

Traditional Shipboard Incineration (Context)

Current State

Most commercial ships use MARPOL Annex VI compliant batch-loaded incinerators
US Navy legacy: ~30 ships still use sludge incinerators based on 1950s technology
IMO MEPC 76(40) sets standards for shipboard incineration
Regulation 16 of MARPOL Annex VI

What's Prohibited

Cannot incinerate:

Cargo residues under MARPOL Annexes I-III
PCBs
Garbage containing heavy metals

Limitations

Batch processing (not continuous)
Requires waste segregation
Produces ash requiring disposal
Lower temperatures — doesn't destroy all toxins
Air emissions (NOx, SOx, particulates)

PAWDS replaces all of this — continuous, no segregation, no ash, no visible emissions, higher destruction efficiency.

Other At-Sea Concepts

Self-Sustaining Ocean Cleanup (Siskowet Enterprises)

Battery-powered autonomous drones sweep up plastic, return to a "mother ship"
Plastic converted to electricity via high-efficiency waste-to-energy incineration on mother ship
Incineration, not plasma — less clean but potentially simpler

PEAT International (Taiwan)

Built facility at National Cheng Kung University, Tainan
Processes 3-5 metric TPD of incinerator fly ash, medical waste, organic industrial waste
Proprietary Plasma Thermal Destruction Recovery method
Not marine-deployed but proves small-scale plasma processing

The Convergence Pattern

Project	Approach	Plasma?	Self-Powered?	At Sea?	Status
PAWDS (US Navy)	Waste destruction on carrier	YES	No (carrier powered)	YES ★	Operational since 2022
SeaChange + InEnTec	Mobile ship, PEM processing	YES	YES (syngas)	YES	Pre-operational
Ocean Saviour	70m vessel, collection + processing	YES (PyroGenesis)	YES (syngas)	YES	Design phase
The Claw (proposed)	Stationary platform, collection feeds in	YES	YES (syngas)	YES	Concept
Siskowet	Drones + mother ship	No (incineration)	YES (WtE)	YES	Concept

Multiple independent groups are converging on the same solution: plasma processing of ocean plastic at sea, self-powered by syngas. This is the strongest possible validation of The Claw's concept. We're not alone in thinking this — we're part of a convergent evolution toward the obvious answer.

Implications for The Claw

What's Already Proven

Plasma at sea works (PAWDS, 2022)
Marine-rated plasma torches exist (PyroGenesis APT-HP)
Shredding mixed waste on a ship works (PAWDS)
The concept of self-powered ocean plastic processing is independently validated by multiple groups

What Remains Unproven

Stationary platform vs. mobile vessel (different engineering challenges)
Energy balance with actual ocean plastic feedstock (vs. ship waste)
Scale beyond 5 TPD at sea
Continuous (not batch) processing of ocean debris specifically
Tangled fishing net shredding in marine conditions

Strategic Questions

1. Partner with SeaChange/InEnTec? They have the PEM tech and are already doing this. 2. License PyroGenesis PAWDS? They have the military-proven marine torch. 3. Compete independently? More expensive, slower, but full control. 4. Hybrid? Use InEnTec PEM + PyroGenesis torches + our own platform design.

Recommendation: Reach out to both InEnTec and PyroGenesis. They want this technology deployed. We want to deploy it. The conversation should be natural.