GEA Westfalia BWT meets IMO requirements

GEA Westfalia Separator Group reports that its BallastMaster ultraV ballast water treatment system has been type approved as meeting IMO guidelines and regulations. The certification body is the Federal Maritime and Hydrographic Agency of the Federal Republic of Germany.

The BallastMaster ultraV is a highly efficient mechanical/physical system solution for treating ballast water even when it includes a high concentration of organisms and sedimentary particles. The two-stage system works with mechanical pre-filtration and subsequent disinfecting of the ballast water by UV-C and ultrasonic radiation without the use or generation of chemicals.

In the first stage, an upstream mechanical filtration system removes all organisms and sedimentary particles larger than 20 microns. This prevents sedimentary deposits from accumulating in the ballast water tanks, as well as guaranteeing an optimum result for ballast water disinfecting in the second stage. The filter modules are cleaned automatically by vacuum extraction (self-cleaning).

In the second stage, the pre-filtered ballast water is disinfected by UV-C radiation and ultrasonically. The monochromatic UV-C radiation (254 nm) effectively destroys organisms such as bacteria or phytoplankton. The microcavitation effected by ultrasonic treatment ensures that the biofilms and deposits on the UV-C tubes are cleaned off extremely efficiently and permanently. In addition, the cell membranes of the organisms are fractured, which maximizes the efficiency of the UV-C radiation.

GEA Westfalia says that the combination of short-wave UV-C radiation and ultrasonic ensures consistent quality disinfecting in accordance with IMO guidelines and ensures that harbor checks of any kind are passed without problems.

February 29, 2011