Ballast water treatment made for the real world
Most product tankers today use submersible cargo pumps. That creates more space for money-making cargo, but it means there’s no pump room or internal space for installing a ballast water treatment system. The solution is to install the system topside, in a deckhouse.
“Tankers are a special challenge when it comes to ballast water treatment,” says Vikas Laul, Technical Director at VSL Marine Technology who has delivered upwards of 30 engineering projects involving PureBallast 3. “There’s seldom enough space in a pump room, if there is one, which means the system must be placed on deck. Not only do PureBallast 3 deckhouses solve our engineering issues by providing a plug-and-play solution, they also reduce the work to be done by a shipyard.”
Compliance takes more than a container
Installing a deckhouse solution involves more than moving the system topside. “The deckhouse is tied to compliance, so it can’t be just a box on deck,” Laul explains. “It has to provide the right conditions for the system to do its job – whether the vessel is in the tropics or the North Sea.”
An Alfa Laval PureBallast 3 deckhouse is far more than a container on deck. In fact, it’s not a container at all. It’s a specially designed solution, constructed from durable marine-grade steel and installed on fixed rails. Moreover, they comprise insulation, heating and ventilation that keep the system temperature stable.
“A PureBallast 3 Ex deckhouse is structurally designed for heavy sea loads, so it offers peace of mind for owners and crews when vessels encounters rough weather,” says Laul. “With its strategically assembled internal equipment, it also makes troubleshooting and maintenance a very smooth process. More than a set of walls around the ballast water treatment system, the deckhouse is an integrated solution to the tanker’s needs.”