Damen external BWTS receives IMO Type Approval

Damen's InvaSave team

MARCH 21, 2017 — Damen Shipyards Group reports that its InvaSave external ballast water treatment system (BWTS) has received IMO type approval.

Designed primarily for use in ports and harbors, the Damen InvaSave treats ballast water received from inbound ships to the IMO D-2 standard. It can also deliver water treated to the same standard to outbound vessels.

Its mobile, containerized format means that it can be operated from the dockside or from onboard a vessel alongside, receiving or delivering water to a ship.

Damen notes that after September 8 this year, regulations will not permit unmanaged ballast water to be discharged. Any vessel that cannot take in or discharge its ballast water after that date will be restricted in its operations and there may be financial implications due to demurrage costs. The Damen InvaSave is thus a valuable asset to all ports seeking to minimize vessel delays caused by the need to treat unmanaged ballast water, allowing them to offer a robust, IMO-certified contingency service.

Damen has dedicated years of research to the development of the InvaSave, including collaboration with leading research institutes in the Netherlands – Groningen Seaports, Wagenborg, MariFlex and Waddenfonds.

Marcel Karsijns, Managing Director of Damen Green Solutions, said: “InvaSave solves the ballast water challenge in ports. We are very proud to receive IMO type approval – it proves the capabilities of this product, something that we have believed in for a long time now. We are looking forward to providing this solution to the market.”

Philip Rabe, responsible for InvaSave sales at Damen, says: “The InvaSave is a unique product – this is a truly innovative solution developed with the needs of the future in mind. Its application goes well beyond the relevance it has for ports too. In many cases, it offers vessel owners a viable and cost-effective alternative to retrofit. And, in the event of failure in an on board system, it ensures that owners have a means by which to access water treatment quickly, equalling no downtime.”

One step, discharge only treatment

InvaSave produces no filter backwash and requires no holding time to achieve biological efficacy.

Land-based tests were conducted as if the InvaSave was a regular in-line treatment system and, in addition, the water was tested directly after treatment to verify that the system achieves D-2 compliance in its capacity as an external treatment unit. The InvaSave has demonstrated that it can treat ‘raw’ ballast water from ships without any pre-treatment or settling time in the ballast tank. The latter was a requirement of the authorities prior to approval as an IMO-certified contingency measure in a port.  

Damen InvaSave is a single-pass system and uses mechanical filtration and ultraviolet radiation to remove and eradicate invasive organisms, and has been tested in fresh, brackish and marine water, including coastal water with a high sediment load. The system is designed to be able to treat water with a low turbidity and a UV Transmission of down to 20%. The system has shown consistently that it can outperform the IMO D-2 standard for organisms.