Enhanced Bio-UV BWTS cuts required holding time

Bio-UV has completed the testing of an enhanced Bio-Sea ballast water treatment system that allows reduced holding times

France’s Bio-UV Group has successfully tested an enhanced Bio-Sea ballast water treatment system designed to reduce the time that treated water has to be held onboard ship prior to discharge overboard.

Shipowners with short sea shipping routes are directly affected by holding times in their operations, hence Bio-UV Group’s focus on optimizing Bio-Sea to reduce this important operating parameter. Treatment technologies that have not been certified for reduced holding time can delay ship operations, costing shipowners dearly.

“This is of great importance for ships sailing in U.S. waters, especially in the Great Lakes where the time between ballasting and de ballasting is short and where shipowners always ask for greater operational flexibility. But it will also be true everywhere else in the world with the coming new G8 requirements from 2020,” said Benoît Gillmann, Bio-UV Group’s President and CEO.
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Technical advances in UV-C technology made by Bio-UV Group have enabled the reduction in holding time, cutting minimum holding time down to zero hours for fresh water, 20 hours for brackish water, 24 hours for marine water, at flowrate, according to Xavier Deval, Business Director, Bio-Sea, who added “This is by far the lowest hold time on the market for UV-based BWTS and allows for easier and faster operations for shipowners trading in all different water types.”

The testing protocol for UV systems requires a holding time between treatments at water uptake and discharge to ensure that microorganisms are fully inactivated.

“A ballast water technology certified to reduce holding time provides unequivocal proof of efficiency,” said Deval.

Based on more than 20 years’ experience in UV-based water treatment, Bio-UV Group’s cutting-edge technology has achieved outstanding results: the shortest ballast water holding time without impacting treatment rate capacity (TRC) at full flow. This, with only one unit and from the same design and technology introduced to the market eight years ago.

“The first design was the right one, which demonstrates the in-house know-how of Bio-UV Group’s engineers,” said Gillmann, Bio-UV Group’s President and CEO.

Bio-UV Group has achieved favorable holding time reductions by optimizing the UV dosage rate. UV lamps operate with two treatment levels, one to deliver enough power to treat ballast water according to IMO/MPN requirements (30-2,000 cu.m/h) another to power up the lamps for USCG/CMFDA standards (55-1,400 cu.m/h).

To date, about 150 vessels have been installed with the Bio-Sea system with shipowners opting for the Bio-UV technology including CMA CGM, Louis Dreyfus Armateurs, Damen Green, MSC Cruises, Royal Caribbean Cruises International and CGG Veritas, among others.