Wartsila's Senitec bilge water system received US Coast Guard Approval

News was prepared under the information support of Online Daily Newspaper on Hellenic and international Shipping "Hellenic Shipping News".

29 Nov 2008

Wartsila’s groundbreaking Senitec sludge and bilge water treatment system has received US Coast Guard (USCG) Type Approval. Tests have confirmed the system’s ability to remove oil in water levels to well below required by the International Maritime Organisation. Rigorous testing carried out by the USCG-approved SGS Institute Fresenius in Germany, one of Europe's leading providers of non-medical laboratory analysis, confirmed effluent discharges of less than 1 parts per million (ppm) The requirement by International Maritime organization is 15 ppm.
While Wartsila received the Bureau Veritas Type Approval last year and intends soon to apply for ABS certification, a US Coast Guard certificate, means the American market is now fully open for Wärtsilä to promote the Senitec system. The Senitec sludge and bilge water treatment system has already been installed in 80 different applications, 40 of which are marine-related.
Contribution to the environment
“It is a very hard test, and the Senitec system came through it with flying colours,” says Magnus Gripenwald, Wärtsilä Senitec project manager, who oversaw the tests. “Even when using an emulsified concoction of heavy fuel oil, diesel, iron oxides and detergent, the outcome was the same. Furthermore, we have found that efficiency does not reduce, even after years of running the system. This is a contribution to the environment.”
Dr Ulrich Hilverkus, the SGS Institute Fresenius official who conducted the tests on behalf of the USCG, confirmed the performance of the system. “The tests were performed successfully with all oil content measurement results being less than 1 ppm. The equipment as tested therefore meets and exceeds the Marine Environmental Protection Committee (MEPC) 107 (49) requirements.”
USCG Type Approval tests are widely considered to be the most stringent, and are therefore considered as being the most valuable Type Approval certificate to hold. The trials are more extensive than others, and include assessments of a system’s robustness, while the electrical and electronic systems are tested at peak frequencies for four continuous hours, far in excess of other approval trials.
Under the supervision of SGS Institute personnel, two Senitec units were installed at the Wärtsilä Sweden facility to facilitate testing of a range of capacities. A 500 to 1000 litre/h capacity unit, and a larger 1500 to 2500 litre/h capacity system, were both tested over a seventy-hour period.
Tilting of the units, to simulate a vessel listing at a 22.5 degree angle, also produced results below 1ppm. In fact, even before the oily water passed through the unit’s fourth stage activated carbon filtration process, the effluent discharged was only 3 ppm, still lower than the 5 ppm limit required of vessels operating in environmentally sensitive areas.

Source: Wartsila