Biotal Marine has developed Biotal Ecoclean 3000, a unique engine room cleaner for the marine industry.

The product has been created to clean and maintain ship engine rooms, while also offsetting the build-up of oily waste water.

The vast majority of engine room cleaners used in the marketplace are based on harsh chemical solvents and / or powerful emulsifying surfactants. Although these products are effective at removing oil and grease soiling, they contribute to the build up of problematic oily water in the bilge wells and storage tanks.

Emulsifying surfactants keep the oil in the water in an emulsion form consisting of millions of tiny stabilised droplets, meaning it cannot be processed through most oily water separators. This increases the amount of oily water that must be stored on board and then disposed of in port; adding significantly to the maintenance costs of running a vessel.

Unlike many current marketplace products, Ecoclean 3000 is a non-solvent, but highly effective dilutable cleaner for use in engine rooms, machinery spaces and bilges. The product contains leading eco-benign® surfactant technology to provide an efficacious cleaning performance.

The blend of surfactants Biotal Marine uses are highly effective cleaners when used in concentration. However when the cleaning solution is diluted as it reaches the bilges, the surfactants no longer have any emulsifying ability and rapidly split, ensuring the products do not have the same negative impacts on oily waste volumes as other emulsifying formulae. This efficient cleaning but dilution breaking capability is a key feature of the Ecoclean 3000 product.

Reducing emulsions means more oily waste can be processed, and this means Biotal Ecoclean 3000 has the potential to save overall costs as well as being a practical, effective engine room cleaner.

In addition, Biotal Ecoclean 3000 is a concentrate, which means the product is ideal for the marine engine room where storage space needs to be optimally maximised.

Biotal Marine research and development specialist Phil Caunt said: "We have developed the Biotal Ecoclean 3000 product developed through extensive research and development for the shipping and marine industry.

"We know from our rigorous testing and experience that the Biotal Ecoclean 3000 product is a far more cost-effective solution for the ship and marine industry. Current engine room cleaning products on the market deliver an efficient cleaning performance at apparent low cost but they can also contribute greatly to the build up of oily water which is expensive to dispose of."