KUCHING: Klang River in Kuala Lumpur, which has been identified as one of the 50 most polluted rivers worldwide, is among the first locations in the world to deploy Interceptors to clean it up. These Interceptors are capable of extracting up to 50,000kg of trash per day and are currently cleaning up major rivers in the Netherlands and Southeast Asia.
Each Interceptor system has a storage capacity of 50m3 (roughly the volume of ten adult elephants) and feature protective coatings from AkzoNobel’s International product range, notably Intershield 300 – an industry leading anticorrosive universal primer with an extensive track record of 30 years. The supplied coatings system provides high performance anti-corrosion, with minimal maintenance required.
Four Interceptors have been built to-date. Apart from Klang River, two systems are already operational in Jakarta, Indonesia, according to a press statement by AkzoNobel.
A third system is being installed in the Mekong Delta in Vietnam, while the fourth is destined to be deployed in Santo Domingo (Dominican Republic).
According to a research by The Ocean Cleanup, which teamed up with AkzoNobel, the active Interceptor was currently filtering debris in the Klang River.
If successful, it would effectively ensure a cleaner Straits of Malacca.
Founded in 2013, ‘The Ocean Cleanup’ is an organisation that aims to clean up to 90 percent of plastic pollution in the ocean by 2040.
To do this, various methods are being used, including deploying floaters at strategic locations where debris would naturally accumulate, as well as setting up 1,000 autonomous cleaning devices called Interceptors in major rivers across the globe in the next five years.
AkzoNobel’s global business director for marine, protective and yacht coatings business Jean Michel Gauthier said, “As official coatings partner to The Ocean Cleanup, we’re fully committed to supporting the fantastic work they’re doing to stop the world drowning in plastic.
“As well as supplying marine coatings with a proven track record, our experts are also involved in the design of the Interceptor devices, so we’re excited to see them deployed in rivers around the world.”
The partnership between AkzoNobel and The Ocean Cleanup was launched in 2017. Technical teams from both parties are continuing to work closely together to develop coatings solutions for the ocean cleaning systems, which are still in the prototype phase.
Testing of the devices is continuing in the Great Pacific Garbage Patch, with work on the latest prototype already underway.
