DESMI Ocean Guard has been awarded a US Coast Guard (USCG) approval certificate for its CompactClean Ballast Water Management System (BWMS).
The recognition is for the system’s two hours minimum hold time restriction in US waters, with the amendment permitting its installation in hazardous areas.
The minimum hold time is the shortest allowable period that ballast water must be kept in the ballast tanks between the ballast uptake and discharge operations.
Reducing the minimum required hold time to just two hours in all water salinities and temperatures set a new standard for non-chemical based BWMS under US rules. The record was achieved without changing anything in the BWMS or how it operates.
Desmi Ocean Guard chief executive officer Guard Rasmus Folsø said: “The performance of the CompactClean BWMS is so superior that, unlike other UV-based BWMS, we have not had to reduce the flow rate in the system to achieve the shortest minimum required hold time in the industry of just two hours.
“Likewise, the two hours’ hold time is achieved without introducing any new limitations on the UV intensity applied in the UV reactor. It is exactly the same BWMS operated in exactly the same way as previously, with just one operation mode used globally.
“This significantly simplifies the operation as there is no need for knowing the de-ballast location and the expected hold time of the ballast water at the time of ballast water uptake, in order to determine if the BWMS should be operated in IMO or US mode depending on the discharge location, or in longer or shorter hold time mode.
“In fact, we have just managed to considerably simplify the ballast water operations of ships in global trade!”
Furthermore, the amended USCG type approval certificate now covers all the ATmosphère EXplosibles (ATEX) and International Electrotechnical Commission Explosive (IECEx) certified versions of CompactClean BWMS. That has allowed the company to install the systems in hazardous areas on-board oil, gas and chemical tankers flying both US and non-US flags.
Folsø added: “With the so far unmatched versatility of the CompactClean BWMS, enabling installation on-board any ship type and allowing treatment and discharge of all kinds of ballast water anywhere in the world, the CompactClean BWMS is leading the way.
“Add to this the smallest footprint in the industry, simplicity, user-friendliness, ease of installation and credible long-term global support and service from a company with close to two centuries of history, and you have the explanation [as to] why CompactClean is being selected by more and more customers.”
The CompactClean BWMS comes in 14 different flow rate sizes, the smallest having a maximum flow rate of 35m³/h and the largest flow rate reaching 3,000m³/h. The largest UV unit boasts an impressive 1,500m³/h maximum capacity, with the 3,000m³/h flow rate achieved when combining two of those together.
DESMI Ocean Guard develops and markets ballast water management systems for the removal of living organisms from ships’ ballast water.
DESMI Ocean Guard is wholly owned by DESMI A/S, a company with more than 180 years’ history that is based in Nørresundby, Denmark. Its portfolio now includes pumps, oil spill response solutions, pumping solutions for defence applications, energy-saving systems, automation, contracting activities and ballast water management systems.