Know-how as preparing for the future

In July 2009 the International Maritime Organization (IMO) has granted the Final Approval of Active Substances to RWO’s ballast water treatment system CleanBallast and thereby noted that the CleanBallast system is safe for the crew, ship and environment. Bremenbased RWO Marine Water Technology is a leading supplier of systems for water and waste water treatment aboard ships and offshore rigs. The company is part of Veolia Water Solutions & Technologies, a subsidiary of Veolia Water, the leading builder of treatment plants and supplier of technical solutions for water treatment.

For many years the discharge of untreated ballast water in the port of destination has caused serious ecological and economic damage and sometimes also harm to public health. Organisms in ballast water find themselves in an alien environment, one where the absence of their natural enemies means they can multiply rapidly and threaten the ecological balance. With the adoption of the Convention on Ballast Water Management, the International Maritime Organization (IMO) has reacted to the problem, which has been known of for some years. In future ballast water must be treated on-board to reduce the number of living organisms to a minimum. The convention applies from 2010, although there are transitional arrangements which depend on the keel laying date and the capacity of the ballast watertanks. RWO has developed CleanBallast, a technology for on board treatment of ballast water which reliably removes organisms, sediments and suspended solids in just two steps:

• 1. A DiskFilter system for mechanical separation when taking in ballast water,
• 2. Followed by RWO advanced EctoSys® disinfection unit which further reduces the number of living organisms before reaching the ballast water tanks.

Advantages at a glance:

• Modular design
• Can be implemented in new ships as well as to retrofits
• Designed for realistic heavy duty operation / Extremely low energy consumption
• High level of automation for operator convenience
• Low system pressure loss No increase in corrosion to the ballast system
• Unique and efficient modular design
• DiskFilter system, self-cleaning without interruption of the flow
• Flexible, highly efficient EctoSys® disinfection system
• Fully automated
• No danger for crew or ship and safe for the environment

RWO is hoping to be issued with the full Type Approval Certificate for its Clean- Ballast system by the German administration in autumn 2009.

Go to Index of # 3(29) 2009