Ballast Water Treatment

Simple and robust, the technology not only kills the invasive aquatic species present in ballast water in accordance with IMO and other regulatory requirements, but also offers the ship owner significant savings in maintenance costs through a substantial reduction in ballast tank corrosion.
The system uses a marine inert gas generator linked to specially designed Gas Lift Device (GLD) placed inside the ships ballast tanks.

The system does not disrupt standard ship operation. Ballast water is pumped into the ballast tanks as normal, with no restriction to flow. Once the tank is at the required level, the water is treated by diffusing clean, ultra-low-oxygen inert gas into the ballast water through the Coldharbour Patented Gas Lift Diffusion Pipe Assemblies. This can take place whilst the vessel is underway and so poses no disruption to the vessels operating schedule.

The system is automatic in operation thereby ensuring optimal conditions are maintained within the ballast tanks regardless of loading. There are no additional specialist training or engineering support requirements for operators already accustomed to using inert gas generation systems.

There are no mechanical filters to block or back flush, no additional seawater control valves, no complex electrical systems and no space consuming equipment to be incorporated into already crowded machinery spaces.

 

 

The system diffuses inert gas upward through the GLD, infusing into the ballast water and stripping the oxygen from it. This simultaneously creates hypoxia (reduced oxygen) and a lowering of the water pH. Lowering of pH induces a condition known as hypercapnia in marine life. A combination of cell disruption, hypoxia and hypercapnia effectively kills both aerobic and anaerobic organisms.

The percolated gas then sits in the ullage space within the tank thereby further protecting the ballast tank from corrosion. Tests have shown that corrosion can be reduced by over 85% in normal operation and this provides significant savings in dry dock maintenance time and repair costs, as well as offering an extension to the economic operating life of the vessel.

For new build vessels Coldharbour will be pleased to offer its own Sea Guardian range of 3rd Generation Inert Gas Generators which have been designed to work with the Coldharbour Ballast Water Treatment system. For tanker retrofit requirements Coldharbour will be happy to work with the vessels existing IGG unit, provided that the gas generated by the system is to the required residual Oxygen and minimal soot levels. In many cases installation can be achieved in normal dry docking periods.

 

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