Martin Shaw, Managing Director/Chairman of the Human Factors Subcommittee of MOAMS Ltd/IMAREST

Captain Kuba Szymanski, Secretary-General, InterManager

Martin Shaw, Managing Director of Maritime Operations and Assurance Management Solutions

Ioannis Makris, Angelakos Hellas Technical Manager

Henrik Jensen, CEO and Founder of Danica Group

Filters for ballast water systems may not be required by law, but they can be very useful, especially when ships are loading ballast water in sediment-rich waters. We talked to Filtersafe, a manufacturer of filtration systems.

Mark Riggio, Maritime Supervisor of Filtersafe, a filter system manufacturer, said that it might make sense for tanker operators to consider the sediments in the ballast water they load on their ships and whether they should filter them out. The regulations of the ballast water system require that the system be approved to kill organisms and remove sediment to a certain level, and has been tested under factory conditions to ensure that it can do this. However, the only vessels that do not require filters are very large vessels that trade between large deep-water ports, where there is no large amount of sediment in the collected water for ballasting, Mr. Riggio said. If you trade in rivers, deltas, or shallow sea ports, where flowing water and runoff may affect the water, or the ship’s water intake may be near the bottom, the sediment content may be particularly high. "This is where most cargo is unloaded," he said. Ballast water regulations do include requirements regarding the level of sediment discharged into ballast water. The full name of this regulation is "International Convention on Ship Ballast Water and Sediment Control and Management (BWM)". There are many ballast water systems that are type-approved and can be used without a filter. However, tanker operators who do not use filters may find that a layer of sediment accumulates on the bottom of their ballast tanks and cannot be pumped out, so they must be removed in a dry dock. "In a dry dock, you end up shoveling 6-8 inches of sediment at the bottom of the tank," he said. This is the self-weight that the ship needs to carry. But another concern is that these sediments may be classified as hazardous waste in the future, which will incur high disposal costs. The disposal regulations may be similar to those for bilge water. In addition, dry docks may choose waste disposal contractors, putting shipowners at a disadvantage in terms of negotiating costs. Oil tankers may need to visit the dry dock twice every five years. For many tanker operators, their next visit will be their first visit after installing ballast water systems (because these systems were installed in their previous dry docks), so they will learn about their tanks for the first time He said the ballast water system was thoroughly tested by IMO and test facilities before it was approved for installation on ships. The test "has the highest challenging conditions. We want to emphasize the system and make sure it is effective. This was done in a scientific laboratory," said Mr. Riggio. But if the system needs to be tested after it is installed on the ship, the test may not be so rigorous. The company may arrange the test when it has the most competent crew on board, from a ballast water point of view, on a less demanding route. For example, if a ship passes through equatorial waters, the high temperature may kill organisms, so no one will know if the ballast water system is not working. "The onboard test is good, but it is a limited test. There are a lot of in-game tests to make sure you pass," he said. Better filters If tanker operators are convinced that a filter system is needed, the next question is what kind of system to use. Use filters when loading ballast water. This must happen at the same time the tanker is unloading (ballast water replaces the unloaded cargo to keep the ship stable). If the filtration system cannot filter the ballast water at the speed required to balance the discharge speed, the discharge needs to be stopped to catch up. Mr. Riggio said that port facilities often really don't like tankers giving them variable cargo flows. So if "you can't turn on the ballast fast enough", this happens. Tanker operators need a filter that provides them with predictable results and predictable flow. As with any filter, if it becomes clogged, the flow rate will drop-therefore, in order to be predictable, there needs to be a reliable method to remove sediment. Filtersafe's system One of the biggest differences between low-quality filters and high-quality filters is the cleaning system, because the filter can only maintain the maximum flow rate when there is no debris, Mr. Riggio said. Filtersafe products have their own automatic cleaning system. The loaded ballast water enters the filter from the inside of the cylindrical filter through the inlet. It passes through the screen and enters the water tank. When the pressure sensor detects that the pressure inside the screen is higher than the outside pressure, the cleaning process will start, which indicates that water cannot flow freely across the screen. A suction pump is activated, and it sucks clean water back through the filter through a precision-designed cleaning nozzle, and brings back the source of the water, the seawater source, and removes the sediment. "Any sediment accumulated on the screen is sucked through the suction nozzle along the pipe, and then returned to the sea where it was originally taken from. In addition, in order to improve the durability of the filter, Filtersafe removed 316L grade stainless steel and replaced it with 904L grade. Stainless steel, its durability is 82% higher than that of 316L. It has 3 configurations, labeled "Regular", "Turbine" and "Super Turbine", and uses more nozzles to provide different levels of cleaning power. It has reached up to 2500 mg ( Tested at a solids content of 2.5 g)/L. The system is used for 25% of the world’s ballast water. In the maritime industry, its system is used by the ballast water system suppliers Wartsila, Techcross, Ecochlor and Evoqua. Filtersafe produces a variety of The size of the filtration system is suitable for various industries other than shipping, including oil and gas, agriculture, desalination and other industries. The company is headquartered in northern Israel, in Pittsburgh (USA), Brazil, Chile, Hamburg (Germany), the Netherlands, There are offices in Russia, Hong Kong, Singapore, Beijing and South Australia.  

Mark Riggio, Maritime Supervisor of Filtersafe, a filter system manufacturer, said that it might make sense for tanker operators to consider the sediments in the ballast water they load on their ships and whether they should filter them out.

The regulations of the ballast water system require that the system be approved to kill organisms and remove sediment to a certain level, and has been tested under factory conditions to ensure that it can do this.

However, the only vessels that do not require filters are very large vessels that trade between large deep-water ports, where there is no large amount of sediment in the collected water for ballasting, Mr. Riggio said.

If you trade in rivers, deltas, or shallow sea ports, where flowing water and runoff may affect the water, or the ship’s water intake may be near the bottom, the sediment content may be particularly high. "This is where most cargo is unloaded," he said.

Ballast water regulations do include requirements regarding the level of sediment discharged into ballast water. The full name of this regulation is "International Convention on Ship Ballast Water and Sediment Control and Management (BWM)".

There are many ballast water systems that are type-approved and can be used without a filter. However, tanker operators who do not use filters may find that a layer of sediment accumulates on the bottom of their ballast tanks and cannot be pumped out, so they must be removed in a dry dock.

"In a dry dock, you end up shoveling 6-8 inches of sediment at the bottom of the tank," he said.

This is the self-weight that the ship needs to carry. But another concern is that these sediments may be classified as hazardous waste in the future, which will incur high disposal costs. The disposal regulations may be similar to those for bilge water. In addition, dry docks may choose waste disposal contractors, putting shipowners at a disadvantage in terms of negotiating costs.

Oil tankers may need to visit the dry dock twice every five years. For many tanker operators, their next visit will be their first visit after installing ballast water systems (because these systems were installed in their previous dry docks), so they will learn about their tanks for the first time The sediment level in the middle, he said.

The ballast water system is thoroughly tested by IMO and testing facilities before being approved for installation on ships. The test "has the highest challenging conditions. We want to emphasize the system and make sure it is effective. This was done in a scientific laboratory," said Mr. Riggio.

But if the system needs to be tested after it is installed on the ship, the test may not be so rigorous. The company may arrange the test when it has the most competent crew on board, from a ballast water point of view, on a less demanding route.

For example, if a ship passes through equatorial waters, the high temperature may kill organisms, so no one will know if the ballast water system is not working.

"The onboard test is good, but it is a limited test. There are a lot of in-game tests to make sure you pass," he said.

If tanker operators are persuaded to need a filtration system, the next question is what kind of system to use.

Use filters when loading ballast water. This must happen at the same time the tanker is unloading (ballast water replaces the unloaded cargo to keep the ship stable).

If the filtration system cannot filter the ballast water at the speed required to balance the discharge speed, the discharge needs to be stopped to catch up.

Mr. Riggio said that port facilities often really don't like tankers giving them variable cargo flows. So if "you can't turn on the ballast fast enough", this happens.

Tanker operators need a filter that provides them with predictable results and predictable flow.

As with any filter, if it becomes clogged, the flow rate will drop-therefore, in order to be predictable, there needs to be a reliable method to remove sediment.

Mr. Riggio said that one of the biggest differences between a poor-quality filter and a good-quality filter is the cleaning system, because the filter can only maintain the maximum flow rate when there is no debris.

Filtersafe products have their own automatic cleaning system.

The loaded ballast water enters the filter from the inside of the cylindrical filter through the inlet. It passes through the screen and enters the water tank.

When the pressure sensor detects that the pressure inside the screen is higher than the outside pressure, the cleaning process will start, which indicates that water cannot flow freely across the screen.

A suction pump is activated, and it sucks clean water back through the filter through a precision-designed cleaning nozzle, and brings back the source of the water, the seawater source, and removes the sediment. "

Any sediment accumulated on the screen is sucked through the suction nozzle along the pipe, and then returned to the sea from which it was originally taken.

In addition, in order to improve the durability of the filter, Filtersafe removed 316L grade stainless steel and replaced it with 904L grade stainless steel, which is 82% more durable than 316L.

It has 3 configurations, labelled "Regular", "Turbine" and "Super Turbine", using more nozzles to provide different levels of cleaning capabilities.

It has been tested at a solid content of up to 2500 mg (2.5 g)/liter.

This system is used for 25% of the world's ballast water. In the maritime industry, its systems are used by ballast water system suppliers Wartsila, Techcross, Ecochlor and Evoqua.

Filtersafe produces various sizes of filtration systems for various industries other than shipping, including oil and gas, agriculture, desalination and other industries.

The company is headquartered in northern Israel and has offices in Pittsburgh (USA), Brazil, Chile, Hamburg (Germany), the Netherlands, Russia, Hong Kong, Singapore, Beijing and South Australia.