Stolt Tankers has installed a microplastics filter to its ship Stolt Sagaland as part of its ongoing commitment to achieving its environmental ambitions, including protecting life below water.

The installation, which coincides with World Oceans Day (June 8), is an addition to the ship’s existing ballast water treatment system. During treatment, the filter collects microplastics present in the ballast water and removes them – effectively leaving the water cleaner than it was to begin with.

Project Engineer Julius Jansen explains: “It’s early days for this project, however the initial indications are very promising. We installed the filter to Stolt Sagaland during a recent period in drydock. Within an hour of operation it had captured residue from the water.”

After allowing the system some time to do its work, Stolt Tankers will extract and analyse the residue collected to get an indication of how much plastic it will be able to filter from the water.