Among the first manufacturers to obtain both IMO and type-approval for its system was South Korea’s NK Co, whose BlueBallast system uses ozone as its disinfectant. NK Co vice president, Kim Kyoung-Hoon, spelt out its priorities in an interview with the South Korean news service, ecofuturenetwork. He said that the company plans to produce a smaller version that could be installed in a container on deck.
This would reduce costs, he explained, and would be attractive for ships with limited space to install a conventional system. The smaller version would also shorten delivery times, he said. Shorter delivery times are likely to be a distinct advantage, given the bottlenecks that are anticipated as owners rush to install BWTS.
The original NK-03 model had 6-7 main components, but this number has been reduced for the latest variant. The air compressor and ozone generator have been combined into one unit to reduce the footprint, making the system well-suited for smaller tankers. It also lends itself for retrofits because it can be skid-mounted or put into a container. This new version has a lower throughput, ranging from 300 m3/hour to 1,500 m3/hour.
As the new model works according to the same principles as its predecessor, NK Co did not need to go through the IMO or United States Coast Guard approval process again.
According to international environment sales team manager, Myung-sin Kim, NK Co obtained AMS approval from the United States Coast Guard in April 2013; the first Korean ballast water treatment maker to do so. NK Co has also obtained type approval from DNV; again one of the first Korean manufacturers to do so.
The system uses ozone, created in a side stream from the main flow, which Mr Kim said makes it especially suitable for tankers because they need explosion-proof systems: only the side stream element needs to be in the pump room. The rest of the kit can
be elsewhere.
As of October’s KorMarine exhibition the company was fast approaching 70 tanker references, of which almost 40 had actually been delivered. The total orderbook (reflecting on-order and delivered systems) stood at about 300 systems.
Mr Kim’s expectation is that when the much-vaunted US shale gas comes on stream, there will be a spate of tanker orders, which in turn will generate more orders for the NK co system.
Korea, said Mr Kim, is a good place to develop new technology as there are tax breaks for companies that develop ballast water treatement systems as well as NOx and SOx-related technology. Selling into Korean yards is a little more challenging because the likes of HHI and Samsung have their own systems. Sales are therefore mostly to China and Japanese yards.
Cleanship Solutions develops portable BWT systems
Cleanship Solutions (CSS) has developed a range of fully containerised, portable ballast water treatment (BWT) systems, suitable for a range of vessels and applications.
With a comprehensive background in the heavy lift and project cargo sector as part of Malin Group, CSS saw that many vessels only require ballasting a few times per year. For the owners of these vessels, the cost of retrofitting a BWT system is simply not cost-efficient. “Containerised, portable BWT systems provide owners with a low cost way to achieve compliance,” said Chris McMenemy, general manager of CSS. “This is especially the case on vessels where transit ballasting is only carried out on two or three projects per year.”
CSS has a number of treatment technology options available for the containerised systems, and each one will be tailored to specific vessel flow rate and capacity requirements. Small modifications to the vessel’s ballast pipework will be required, to route the ballast water to and from the containers, which will most likely be located on the main deck.
By working closely with key BWT system manufacturers, Cleanship Solutions can provide the containerised systems on a variety of hire or purchase options. In addition to this, the systems can be supplemented by fully trained CSS service teams, who will install and operate the system as well as produce all required documentation for compliance. “The ability to provide service teams with the systems means there is no disruption to the vessel crew, and provides peace of mind to the vessel operators” Mr McMenemy continues.
CSS feel that the containerised systems provide a solution to the industry that has been somewhat lacking in options. “Our containerised systems provide shipowners with the option of purchasing one system that they can share across their fleet, rather than having to purchase and retrofit one system per vessel” says Mr McMenemy.TST
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