Project

With Horizon 2020 funding, ECOTIP launches a pioneering assessment of changes to Arctic marine ecosystems and societies, from melting ice to shifting fisheries

The ambitious new ECOTIP initiative brings together a multidisciplinary group of scientists from more than 10 countries to study ecosystem tipping cascades in the Arctic marine environment. This major international effort will advance understanding of the impacts of climate change on Arctic biodiversity and the cascading effects that biodiversity change can have on marine ecosystems, the climate services they provide, and the human communities that depend on them. The innovative four-year project, funded by the European Union's Horizon 2020 Programme, launched on 1 June 2020.

Supported by DHRTC-DTU via Smart Water Flooding Flagship Programme. Two PhD positions. The objective of the SWTS is to develop a smart water management system that addresses both optimal operational performance and process development/design, by employing the advanced control and big data analytics technologies. This work will focus on innovative analysis, design and development of both Produced Water Treatment (PWT) and Injection Water Treatment (IWT) for offshore enhanced oil recovery using advanced water-flooding technology.

This project will develop an innovative method to attract and trap heavy metals in sea water and marine sediments on a cathode metal “sponge”, using electrochemical separation and precipitation of heavy metal ions, allowing effective removal from the marine environment. For this purpose, different 3D metal cathodes “sponges” will be printed out and tested for optimization of removal capacity, surface area and material use. We will measure water and sediments heavy metal concentrations before and after the test, to evaluate efficiency of the specific cathode “metal sponge”.

Globally, over 250 million barrels of water are produced daily from the oil and gas fields, and more than 40% of the produced water is discharged into the environment. As a consequence, a highly focused area for the Danish North-Sea oil field operators, as well as the authorities and public, is the content of oil in the produced water discharged to sea.

This project is to propose a software-based innovative Produced Water Treatment (PWT) solution by using the advanced plant-wide control methodology. This will be achieved through integration of an advanced Multiple Input and Multiple Output (MIMO) anti-slug control, which is developed based on a large process scope covering from the production wells over the 1st-stage inlet separators to the produced water treatment systems, where these systems are equipped with multiple manipulators and transmitters, with a coordinated separator (water) level control and pressure control of hydrocyclones, which are developed in an optimal cooperative manner.

The achieved solution will promote a completely new generation of PWT system in terms of better environmental protection, along with significantly improved production and reduced cost-vs-production ratio.

This project aims to suppress the oscillation motion of floating offshore wind turbines and to improve the structural safety margin of the turbines. The tension leg platform has good vertical stiffness, but insufficient horizontal stiffness and are prone to yawing motion. By establishing a vibration isolation system to resist and dissipate wave impact and wind load impact. The excitation and damage caused by external loads to the wind turbine can be effectively mitigated. The response of the wind turbine is analyzed based on the wave load spectrum and the response curve of the floating platform is calculated using numerical simulation as a basis for designing the hybrid vibration isolation system. A suitable control strategy is selected to first dissipate the waves by controlling the actuators and then dissipate the energy using hybrid vibration isolation. Simulations and experimental studies are used to select the appropriate dynamic parameters for the vibration isolation system to achieve the desired response of the wind turbine. The life state analysis of key components such as tension legs is carried out. The performance degradation characteristics and laws of wind turbines under low-frequency cyclic waves are studied to ensure their safe operation.

Through the project 'Fiskens Fodaftryk', extensive work has been done to uncover key challenges related to assessments of the climate impact of Danish fisheries ('CO2 footprint') through life cycle assessments (Life Cycle Assessment, LCA). 'Fisheries' in this context covers the catch stage, although subsequent stages such as processing and transport also contribute to the climate impact of fish products via CO2 emissions related to these stages.

On a general level, the project has explored different methodological approaches, the importance of assumptions, data availability, and partly the communication challenges that may arise when calculating the climate impact of Danish fisheries. Ultimately, the project's results can contribute to future opportunities to work in a targeted and documentable manner to reduce the climate impact of Danish fisheries, where this is possible and appropriate. The project's insights will also be relevant in the context of the development of consumer-oriented environmental and climate labels or campaigns.

The project has focused in particular on examining the possibilities and limitations of making climate impact assessments based on data that is continuously and systematically collected at the national level for (approximately) the entire fisheries sector. Such an approach could potentially make it manageable to continuously produce uniform assessments that cover the entire fisheries sector, as models and data processing procedures can thus be applied uniformly and effectively to the entire sector.

The project is funded by the Fisheries Tax Fund 2020-2021, and the output and activities from the project are made available continuously via this page.

A more and more widespread way to protect the coast against ongoing erosion is to build so-called Low Crested Structures (LCSs). Despite a large number of coast parallel LCSs exist, the structural performance of these structures are not fully clarified. The LCSs dealt with are coast parallel detached rubble mound structures, either emerging slightly above the water surface or somewhat submerged like a reef.

Initially results of a study of the geometry of existing LCSs are presented. The geometry and structural performance of existing LCSs form the basis of the limits for new design equations. New improved design formulas for calculation of static stability of LCSs are developed on the basis of new 2D and 3D laboratory experiments with scale models. The formulas are specially designed for breakwaters subject to shallow water waves and/or depth limited waves, as the majority of existing LCSs are exposed to such conditions. The formulas are validated against prototype experience. Ecological aspects in relation to structural stability are important, and design guidance on how to consider ecology in the design is therefore given. The new design guidance adds practical and helpful knowledge to the toolbox of the designing engineer.

In Jammerbugt in Skagerrak, some of the most intensively fished Danish sea areas are found. The area is particularly characterised by the fact that all of the most important types of Danish fishing methods for demersal fishing for food fish take place. This applies to gillnets, which are fixed fishing gears, as well as beam trawls, purse seines and trawls, which are bottom-towed fishing gears. The different gears physically affect the seabed in different ways. Fixed fishing gears have relatively low impact and are therefore not included in this project. The habitats on the seabed in the area and the fauna associated with them have not been studied in particular detail. This is important in terms of being able to assess the effect of bottom-towed fishing gears.

There has therefore been a desire to have the impacts from bottom-towed fishing gears, with a main focus on beam trawls, investigated. Through monitoring work in 2023, this research project has investigated fishing activities, the impact of bottom-towed gears, habitats, fauna and biodiversity in general. Many different monitoring tools have been used to provide a broader understanding of these conditions, including: sidescan sonar, vessel satellite data, underwater drone, underwater video camera, towed Ockelmans sled, Van Veen grab for bottom samples, sound recordings and e-DNA. Taken together, the studies provide new general insight into marine nature and impacts from fishing activities with bottom-tow fishing gear in Jammerbugt.

The project investigates the green transition to fisheries and fisheries technologies that are sustainable in a life cycle perspective. The project intends to combine knowledge on fisheries policy, management, and technology with data and methods from industrial ecology and product environmental assessment to obtain a deeper and multidimensional understanding of the impact of fisheries and improve decision making for stakeholders and policymakers in this sector.

The project has two key objectives: 1) to develop new methods that accurately assess the climate impacts of fisheries accounting for constraints in supply, 2) to identify the trade-offs between fisheries practices that promote sustainable harvesting of stocks and the more recent drive to fish in a climate-friendly way.

The project combines expertise, tools, and methods from three different research domains: life cycle assessment, fishing technology, marine governance.

The COST Action “Rethinking the Blue Economy: Socio-ecological impacts and opportunities” (RethinkBlue) centres around the Blue Economy and related policies affecting European societies. After the term was introduced at the UN Rio+20 conference, the paradigm was adopted by various actors across Europe and beyond. In the EU, the Blue Economy paradigm involves regional and national political-economic priorities, new legislative and governance frameworks, and EU and national financial support for sectors of the marine economy. However, the impact of these policies on coastal populations are not yet well-understood. Accelerating globalisation, technological developments and the impact of climate change pose additional challenges.

The purpose of this Action is to rethink the Blue Economy, in two ways. First, by assessing its impact on coastal societies, and second, by exploring opportunities deriving from innovations and potential synergies between established and emergent marine activities. The guiding research questions are:

1. What are the impacts, positive or negative, of Blue Economy developments on human well-being, social equity and the economic and environmental sustainability of coastal societies?
2. What are potential opportunities for innovations and synergies between sectors?

Scientific interactions focus on five themes: (1) maritime occupations, (2) food security & sustainable blue consumption, (3) port cities & coastal communities, (4) fisheries governance & emergent activities, (5) climate change & natural hazards. Knowledge exchange and capacity building among researchers and stakeholders of the Blue Economy will be facilitated through meetings, research workshops, an online seminar series, training schools, and conferences.

Action keywords: Blue Economy - Maritime governance and policy - Socio-economic transformations - Social, economic and environmental sustainability - Coastal societies