Balpure BWT chosen for oceangoing offshore barges

The Balpure ballast water treatment system from Severn Trent De Nora has been selected for use on two oceangoing heavy deck cargo barges being constructed for Norwegian-based Greenway Shipping by Dalian Shipyard, at its shipyard in Dalian, China.

The 9,025 dwt oceangoing barges will be the first new offshore barges to install the Balpure system and the first offshore barges to have built-in ballast water treatment systems.  The Balpure system was selected from a list of competing vendors because of its robust and proven electrolytic disinfection technology, its treatment approach, low power consumption and low maintenance requirements.

Trym Gade Lintoft, marketing director – partner of Greenway Shipping, said, “Greenway Shipping chose the Balpure system because of its technical features and Severn Trent De Nora’s long history of water treatment in the marine industry. Despite the fact that many new ballast water treatment systems have been recently introduced, we wanted to work with an established organization that provided a first class, fully operational system resistant to the harsh marine environment. Our offshore barges are the first in their class to be equipped with ballast water treatment systems, and we strongly believe Severn Trent De Nora will support us throughout the barges’ expected lifespan of thirty years.”

The Balpure system is gaining headway globally among vessels requiring a robust and reliable solution,” said Jim McGillivray, Balpure general manager for Severn Trent De Nora. “This contract with Greenway Shipping represents our first order in Norway, and we see great potential for the Balpure system with the country’s marine industry. Our regional sales manager in the territory, Mr. Ulf Hallberg, will be further developing and promoting Balpure across the Nordic region.”

Two Balpure systems to be supplied in sub-assemblies, one set for each of the barges, will be provided to Greenway Shipping. Each Balpure system is capable of treating ballast water flow rates of up to 600 cu.m/h. The Balpure systems will be delivered and installed in March 2012.

Severn Trent De Nora says that Balpure, which utilizes electrolytic disinfection technology, is a reliable and economical ballast water treatment approach which has been proven to surpass IMO D-2 standards by ten-fold. Balpure’s slip stream treatment approach, where approximately one percent of the total ballast water flow is used to generate the hypochlorite disinfection solution, enables remote mounting away from the critical ballast systems. The slip stream approach, coupled with a design that requires treatment only during the uptake of the ballasting cycle, requires significantly less electric power when compared to competing technologies – ensuring low operational costs.

Balpure, says Severn Trent De Nora, offers a virtually maintenance-free approach to ballast water treatment through the use of proprietary self-cleaning electrodes that eliminate the need for chemical and mechanical maintenance which could otherwise be time consuming for ships’ crews.  Balpure has also received third-party assurance by GL Noble Denton, which concluded after an extensive testing program that the Balpure system has no effect on coated steel, naval bronze and copper-nickel alloys.

January 16, 2012