Ballast Water Treatment Design Demonstrates Efcacy on Tank Ships

Ballast water is the most frequently cited cause of the introduction and transfer of non-indigenous species (NIS) into waterways. Ballast water management strategies, coupled with stringent regulation, aim to prevent, reduce or eliminate the transfer of harmful aquatic organisms and pathogens through the control and management of ships ballast water and sediments. Ballast water treatment systems are a proven approach to limiting the introduction and transfer of NIS. Technologies used for treating ballast water are typically identied as solid-liquid separation, disinfection or some combination of the two. The Marine Environment Protection Committee (MEPC) of the International Maritime Organization met February 2004 and adopted a new world Ballast Water Convention that will take effect 12 months after ratication by 30 member States representing 35% of the worlds gross tonnage. The Convention is divided into Articles and, more importantly for the development of ballast water treatment technologies, an Annex that includes technical standards and requirements in the Regulations for the control and management of ships ballast. All ships including submersibles, oating craft, FSUs and FPSOs, are to manage their ballast water in accordance with an approved Ballast Water Management Plan and record such management in a Ballast Water Record Book. Initial implementation was scheduled for 2009 adoption, with a 2012 / 2014 / 2016 staggered enforcement based on a ships size and dates when construction begins. Implementation is still pending, waiting ratication by the 30 member States. Once triggered, the implementation will be compressed at the front end to meet the same 2012 / 2014 / 2016 staggered enforcement. All ships in service must use ballast water treatment by 2016. The ballast water treatment market is targeted toward retrotting equipment for existing ships / vessels and providing equipment for newly built ships / vessels. These two distinct market segments have subtle differences, yet share common purchasing decision factors. While CAPEX is the most critical factor for new builds and total cost of ownership is the most critical factor for retrots, operational ease, footprint, ability to meet specic vessel requirements, ease of installation and maintenance are important factors for both market segments. As a result, ballast water treatment systems that can be separated into smaller sub-assemblies to t installation requirements present a competitive advantage for the retrot and new build market, especially tank ships with high volumes of ballast water and explosion-proof, application-specic requirements. Tank ship ballast water requirements Oil, gas or chemical tank ship ballast water systems handle higher volumes and ow rates than many other vessel types. These higher ow rates require larger and more powerful ballast water treatment equipment and accessibility for routine maintenance and repair. Tank ships are designed to carry hydrocarbons in bulk. The cargo tanks carrying the hydrocarbons are by denition hazardous areas. While not intended to contain hydrocarbon gases or liquids, adjacent spaces to these tanks, including ballast tanks and the pump room, must be designed to meet the requirements for a hazardous area. As a result, the installation of ballast water treatment equipment must meet classication society hazardous area rules. Hazardous area rules establish additional requirements on the type of electrical equipment and place restrictions on piping connections to areas where hydrocarbons may be present.
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American Bureau of Shipping (ABS) Rules for Building and Classing Steel Vessels set limitations on how piping can be run between hazardous and non-hazardous compartments. The regulations imply that all ballast water treatment system components must be placed in hazardous areas only. This is often both impractical and inefcient. Given the systems electrical power requirements, the need for accessibility to carry out routine maintenance and repair, as well as other factors, it is preferable to install the components in a non-hazardous area such as the engine room or an auxiliary machinery space. Since there are no specic rules governing communication between hazardous and non-hazardous spaces for a ballast treatment system, and in the absence of such rules, analysis and a comprehensive risk assessment should be conducted to demonstrate that the installation of a ballast water treatment system meets or exceeds comparable safety standards established for other systems that permit communication between hazardous and non-hazardous spaces. The ABS Guide for Risk Assessment for the Classication of Marine-Related Facilities provides an approval process for such a situation: ....where a design is being proposed on the premise that it provides equivalent protection against the risks addressed by the ABS Class Rules, rather than by strict compliance with existing prescriptive classication Rules. An ABS technical review team reviews a risk assessment and concludes if the proposed arrangement provides an equivalent level of safety and was suitable for classication. The importance of a ballast water treatment design Once a proposed ballast water treatment arrangement is approved for hazardous classication, installation can then be undertaken. The system should be designed to minimize the rearrangement of existing shipboard equipment and ensure system components are readily accessible for operation and maintenance. As such, a compact, separated into a smaller sub-assembly ballast water treatment system design is required for installation on board an existing vessel. In the rst quarter of 2008, a BALPURE ballast water treatment system from Severn Trent De Nora was installed for testing on SeaRiver Maritime, Inc.s S/R AMERICAN PROGRESS, a 46,000 deadweight ton, double-hull product tanker. ABS provided the classication society oversight and acceptance role for this installation. The double-hull tank ship arrangement has 14 cargo tanks and 2 slop tanks. The double-hull, segregated ballast capacity is 19,000 cubic meters. The ballast is handled by two ballast pumps, each rated at 975 cubic meters per hour. The cargo and ballast pumps are located in a traditional pump room just aft of the cargo tanks and forward of the machinery space. For this installation, the BALPURE system was separated into six components and installed in available space; eliminating the requirement to relocate other ship equipment. The BALPURE system was sized for 2,000 m3/hr hour ballast ow. Electrolyzers Control Panel and transformer/rectier Hydrogen separation Booster pumps In-line analyzers Sulte addition

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The BALPURE system uses electrolytic technology to generate the biocide on demand. The BALPURE system generates biocides, meters and analyzes the residual level of both biocides and neutralizing agents, logging the performance of the overall ballast water treatment system for compliance and reporting requirements. As a result, the use of hazardous chemicals is not required. Modications are minimal to the existing ballast water system, making the BALPURE system ideal for retrot additions of ballast water management systems aboard tankers. BALPURE is used during ballasting to lter and disinfect incoming seawater and during de-ballasting to neutralize residual oxidant in discharged seawater. During ballasting, a side stream of main ow is used to generate oxidants, and the main ow is ltered to return silt/sediments and large organisms back to the uptake location. Oxidants are injected back into the main line and an analyzer / data logger is used to monitor / control residual oxidant. TOC is monitored to predict uptake ballast water oxidant demand levels and accurately produce the required biocide for each location. During de-ballasting, sulte is injected into the main de-ballast line to neutralize residual oxidants with an analyzer / data logger used to control and verify effective neutralization. The BALPURE system also maintains a residual oxidant until nal de-ballast. The BALPURE system can accommodate increased ow rates by expanding the base model and using larger electrolytic cells to generate greater quantities of the disinfectant required to treat the higher ow rates. The operating and capital cost implications of replication of smaller units are eliminated when the system is fully integrated to the ships specic needs. Other competitive ballast water treatment systems will simply replicate their base model design in order to treat increased ow rates, leading to an inefcient use of space and increased costs and system complexity. Testing and verication As a result of this assessment, testing and installation aboard the S/R American Progress, the vessel with the BALPURE system was authorized earlier this year by the California State Lands Commission to discharge treated ballast water into the states water. The ship may continue to discharge treated ballast water with the BALPURE system as long as the vessel remains in the United States Coast Guards Shipboard Technology Evaluation Program and operates in accordance with its specic conditions. The BALPURE system has received Basic Approval, March 2010 (MEPC 60) and has received Final Approval, October 2010 (MEPC 61). Type Approval is anticipated in early 2011.

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Design improvements may be made without notice.

Represented by:

Severn Trent De Nora 1110 Industrial Blvd. Sugar Land, Texas 77478 Tel +1 281 240 6770 Fax +1 281 240 6762 sales@severntrentdenora.com Copyright 2010 Severn Trent De Nora -4

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