Language
IN THE NEWS
Solutions, March 2012 – Paint and Ballast Water Treatment Meet Head On:
"As two IMO regulations begin to take effect, unforeseen problems have been affecting coatings because of the effect of ballast water treatment (BWT) on the environment inside the tank. The precise way in which the water’s composition is changed, however, depends on the treatment system that is employed."
Read more >>
ABS Quarterly Journal – Surveyor, Winter 2012 – Ballast Tank Bug Killers:
"The ballast tanks of the world’s merchant fleet annually carry an estimated three to five billion tons of water from place to place around the globe and, according to the International Maritime Organization (IMO), take some 7,000 different aquatic animal and plant species along for the ride."
Read more >>
ABS Quarterly Journal – Surveyor, Winter 2012 – Deadly Stripper:
"TECHNOLOGY SPOTLIGHT: BALLAST WATER TREATMENT - The Venturi Oxygen Stripping™ (VOS)system makes use of the Venturi effect to kill organisms that have accidentally been introduced into a ship’s ballast tank, by removing oxygen from the ballast water and drawing it into an inert gas."
Read more >>
The Shipping Tribune, February 2012 – New York state ballast regulations to be IMO equivalent:
"New York State will follow the national ballast water standard, lifting a cloud of uncertainty for marine shipping on the Great Lakes. The Canadian Chamber of Marine Commerce has welcomed the decision by the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation (NYDEC) to pursue a uniform, national ballast water standard."
Read more >>
SOLUTIONS, February 2012 – SAMCO AMAZON:
"Fuel economy is not the only environmental consideration on the vessel, as it can claim the title of the first VLCC equipped with a ballast water treatment system. The 6,350m3/h capacity Venturi Oxygen Stripping system developed by NEI Treatment Systems was manufactured and supplied by NEI licensee Samgong VOS of South Korea."
Read more >>
World Maritime News, August 2011 – N.E.I. Treatment Systems to Provide BWTS for Two Sovcomflot Carriers:
"N.E.I. Treatment Systems announced today the receipt of its first order from Bohai Shipbuilding Heavy Industry for two Venturi Oxygen Stripping(TM) (VOS) Ballast Water Treatment Systems (BWTS) to be installed aboard two 320,000 DWT VLCCs being built for Sovcomflot. Bohai is a subsidiary of the China Shipbuilding Industry Corporation (CSIC), one of the largest shipbuilders in China, and Sovcomflot is the largest commercial shipping group in Russia."
Read more >>
SOLUTIONS, August 2010 – Tough timetable prompts ballast call:
"As many as 20 ships every day will have to be fitted with ballast water treatment systems to meet the mid-2017 deadline set by the IMO’s Ballast Water Management Convention, warns the International Chamber of Shipping (IGS). In a submission prepared for next month’s Marine Environment Protection Committee, it urges member states to ratify the convention ‘in order to bring it into force without any further delay.’ In the meantime, ICS ‘continues to positively encourage the earliest fitting of ballast water treatment systems’ that have been type-approved…..The submission also expresses concern over the availability of treatment systems suitable for ships with a ballast capacity larger than 5,000m3. ‘Manufacturers appear to have primarily concentrated on the smaller systems required under the first application,’ it noted, and hopes that ‘availability of equipment for larger capacity ballast water treatment will be clarified well before the 1 January 2012 implementation date*."
* N.E.I.’s VOS™ Ballast Water Treatment System has virtually unlimited flow rate capacity needed to handle even the largest ships’ ballast systems. Read more >>
SOLUTIONS, February 2010 – Options for all occasions:
"When contemplating implementation of a ballast water treatment system (BWTS) there are a number of practical considerations for operators to take into account. The first and foremost is that the system will guarantee full compliance with the convention, as and when it is finally ratified…..Because this business is still not mature, makers have not really gained sufficient experience of handling the very largest ship types. As with many companies, Giles Candy (N.E.I.’s director of project management) told Solutions that ‘N.E.I. is quite capable of producing pump rates of around 36,000m3/hour, as required by massive heavy-lift vessels, for example.’ N.E.I. sees its VOS™ as possibly the most practical solution for high flow rates*, particularly aboard tankers with forward-mounted ballast pumps. Here, intrinsically safe equipment is required forward of the bulkhead. N.E.I. says the lack of filters also helps with space and power requirements."
* N.E.I.’s VOS™ BWTS is installed or being installed on three major ship types – tankers, bulk, carriers and container vessels, with BWTS flow rate capacity as great as 6,350m3/hr. Read more >>
SOLUTIONS, February 2009 – Where the systems stand:
"Over the past few years, Solutions has devoted extensive coverage to most of the systems being developed and described the various treatment methods they use. At the last count, almost 30 systems or active substances were under development, although a number of early entrants to the race seem to have stalled or dropped out. While such failures are to be expected, some front-runners have already made it through the entire approval process. Of those systems that employ an active substance and have to follow the G9 route to certification, four have been given final approval for the substance under IMO rules and a further nine have achieved basic approval…..So far the only system not making use of an active substance that has achieved type approval is that developed by N.E.I.*"
*N.E.I.’s VOS™ System is the only Type Approved BWTS that does not use active substances or filtration systems to achieve full compliance with IMO’s Ballast Water Discharge Standards. Read more >>
SOLUTIONS, June 2008 – Oxygen starvation:
"N.E.I. Treatment Systems has developed the Venturi Oxygen Stripping (VOS) methodology, which uses an inert gas generator, slightly modified from the type used on conventional tankers. The very low oxygen inert gas is educed into unfiltered ballast via Venturi injectors. When exposed to the low oxygen gas, dissolved oxygen in the ballast water is stripped out of solution, leaving the ballast water deoxygenated and effectively sterilised. When deballasting, ballast tanks are filled with inert gas to maintain them as a low oxygen environment. This actively reduces corrosion and coating breakdown in the ballast tanks*. BMT Fleet Technology has indicated reduction of steel corrosion of up to 85% over a nine-month test period. Other tests where vessels have inerted their ballast for several years have returned even better results."