The Grimaldi Group has reinforced its environmental sustainability credentials by partnering with Wärtsilä in a venture that Grimaldi refers to as ‘the vacuum cleaner of the seas’.
The Neapolitan shipowning company says it has been working for years to tackle the problem of the growing quantity of microplastics in the world’s oceans, has tested and patented as system capable of filtering the wash-water from shipboard exhaust gas cleaning systems (also known as scrubbers).
This innovation, now ready for commercialisation, stems from a Grimaldi initiative to collect pollutant particles and remove them from the water filtered while sailing. Open loop scrubbers, already installed on dozens of Grimaldi Group ships to clean their exhaust gases, suck large quantities of water every day and then return the water to the sea. Before doing so, the new system filters the water and captures the microplastics, preventing them from being ingested by fish and other marine organisms and entering the food chain.
The first company to obtain a non-exclusive license for the development and marketing of the new system is Wärtsilä. The microplastic filter will now be an integral feature of future wash-water treatment systems produced by the Finnish group. Not only will this innovation benefit the environment: the Grimaldi Group will donate the revenues from the licensing of the patent to charity.
Tamara de Gruyter, President Marine Systems, Wärtsilä, said: “It is a pleasure to continue our long relationship with Grimaldi and announce this innovation. Microplastics are a pressing environmental challenge and we’re proud to work together with Grimaldi to tackle cleaning up the oceans. Even more importantly, the ability to capture microplastics shows how scrubbers are a platform for solving a wide range of sustainability challenges – and now even ones that are beyond the stack.”
Grimaldi Group MD Emanuele Grimaldi said: “Reducing microplastics pollution in our world’s oceans is an important challenge, and we are pleased to provide a solution for the shipping industry. The idea for this innovative technology originated from recognising that open loop exhaust gas cleaning systems can draw seawater for exhaust scrubbing and simultaneously collect microplastic present in the oceans as part of their normal operation. We have already completed pilot testing of this system onboard one of our vessels deployed between Civitavecchia and Barcelona. The results are promising, with 64,680 microplastic particles collected on a single voyage between these two ports. We are glad that Wärtsilä also recognises the potential of this system, and we look forward to further collaboration to tackle microplastics in our oceans.”
