DESMI's CompactClean Ballast Water Management System receives US Coast Guard Type Approval
DESMI Ocean Guard A/S has announced that its CompactClean Ballast Water Management System (BWMS) has received US Coast Guard Type Approval. This approval comes just a few months after the CompactClean BWMS received IMO type approval and means that the system is now approved for worldwide operation, the company said in its release.
On April 16, 2019 DESMI Ocean Guard’s CompactClean Ballast Water Management System (BWMS) received US Coast Guard (USCG) Type Approval. The approval is valid for all salinities and sea water temperatures, and has no requirement for a special operating mode in US Territory. In fact, the stringent US requirements are met everywhere in the World by running the system in its normal mode. This means the system is fully approved and certified for discharge of ballast water anywhere in the world, no matter if it is fresh water, brackish water, marine water, cold water or warm water.
The USCG Type Approval includes a requirement for a minimum holding time between ballast and de-ballast operations of 24 hours. This is already significantly better than many competing systems, but in order to meet any customers requirement, additional testing has recently been performed in order to demonstrate that the minimum holding time requirement can be reduced to close to zero hours. Tests were successful and we expect an amended USCG Type Approval certificate with a close to zero holding time requirement will be issued in the near future. The IMO Type Approval certificate is already without any minimum holding time requirement.
Furthermore, the CompactClean BWMS has recently been approved according to ATEX and IECEx requirements for installation in hazardous zones on e.g. oil and chemical tankers, and this is also expected to be added to both IMO and USCG Type Approval certificates soon.
The CompactClean BWMS comes in 14 different flowrate sizes, with the smallest having a maximum flowrate of 35 m3/h, and the largest having a maximum flowrate of 3000 m3/h. The largest UV Unit boasts an impressive 1500 m3/h max capacity, and by combining two of these in parallel the 3000 m3/h flowrate is achieved. As reported by other UV makers in the market we also see a growing market for these large flowrate UV systems, because shipowners value the simplicity, ease of installation, ease of operation, low operating expenses and chemical free operation offered by UV technology.
The system consists of an automatic backflushing filter, a UV unit, valves, sensors, and controls. Furthermore, the system includes many features that are of importance to the daily operation. One example is automatic generation of PDF reports that document all the performed ballast water treatment operations, in a format that is suitable for submission to local port authorities and others. Another example is that the system includes a pump that can be used as stripping pump under ballast stripping operations, thus solving one of the main problems for ballast water management system installations today.