Desmi

DESMI Ocean Guard A/S announced that notified body DEKRA EXAM on 9 June 2016 issued ATEX certificate for its RayClean-EXTM ballast water treatment system. This means the system can now be installed directly in hazardous areas on-board tanker vessels.

On June 9 2016, DEKRA EXAM issued ATEX certificate for DESMI’s RayClean-EXTM ballast water treatment system. The certificate covers both the RayCleanTM UV unit and the UV control panel powering the UV unit, and enables both these components to be installed in hazardous areas on-board tanker vessels like, for example, oil tankers, chemical tankers and gas carriers.

The filter, valves and sensors in the RayCleanTM system can also be delivered in ATEX certified version meaning that all components of the RayCleanTM system except the main control panel can be installed directly in hazardous areas. The main control panel must be installed in a safe area like, for example, an engine control room, which in general is the normal approach.

"We are of course very pleased to announce that we have received this important certification, which will open up an entirely new market segment for our ballast water treatment system," says Rasmus Folsø, CEO of DESMI Ocean Guard.

He continues: "So far we have not been able to offer our customers a certified version of our RayCleanTM system, which could be installed in hazardous areas on tankers, but now we can! While we await US Coast Guard’s final decision regarding our USCG type approval application submitted to them in March 2015, as only the second company in the world to do this, we continue to develop our RayCleanTM system in order to strengthen our market offering, and the ATEX certificate is a good example of this."

The RayClean-EXTM ATEX certification enables the system to be installed directly in Zone 1 hazardous area, Ex II 2G EX pxb [ia / ib] IIC T4 Gb Technical Manager in DESMI Ocean Guard, Mark Kalhøj explains: "We have designed our ATEX-certified version of RayCleanTM in order to enable installation in all typical hazardous areas found on-board normal commercial tankers and gas carriers.

"The general protection principle used is purge and pressurisation, which means all potential ignition sources are covered by enclosures that are purged and pressurised with air in order to maintain an overpressure inside the enclosures. This way gas cannot access the enclosures and get close to potential ignition sources. The overpressure is constantly monitored and if it disappears the RayClean-EXTM system will automatically de-energize immediately."

The RayCleanTM Ballast Water Treatment is based on mechanical filtration and UV treatment. The system has received IMO, DNV-GL and ClassNK type approval, as well as AMS acceptance by the USCG, which is valid in all salinities ranging from freshwater to marine water. Moreover, the RayCleanTM approvals contain no limitation with regard to temperature of the water to be treated, and they cover a record setting wide UV-transmission range, which the RayCleanTM system has been proven capable of dealing with.

This means the RayCleanTM system can also treat extremely dirty and unclear water that no other UV system on the market today is approved for. In short, the approved capability of the RayCleanTM system to deal with any kind of water you can expect to encounter in normal global trade is outstanding and un-matched in the Industry.