BWTS

Since the rules requiring operators to address the issue of ballast water management came into force, there has been what

Mark Riggio of

Filtersafe describes as a tectonic shift from compliance to actually living with the ballast water system installed on the ship

Mark Riggio Head of Marine, Filtersafe Automatic Screen Filtration

BUCKING

THE SYSTEM

“When people say that a ballast water system doesn’t work, there are really only two things they are talking about,” says Mark Riggio, head of marine at US-based Filtersafe Automatic Screen Filtration. “Eighty per cent of the time, they are talking about the filter and it is the filter that is slowing down flows. It is the filter mesh that is rusting and creating the issue that they have.”

According to Riggio, when ballast water management approval standards were initially introduced, owners and operators scrambled to get the cheapest equipment that would be compliant.

Now, he says, we have reached a state in the retrofitting cycle where operators are moving from the bare fact of compliance to considering whether the system actually works in practice; whether it needs additions to improve performance or changed completely.

It is no longer just a question of ensuring compliance with the regulations, he explains, but of actually having a system on board that meets the operating profile of the ship in question.

Systems are designed to work at the test facility, he explains, but that creates certain limitations when you take them out of the test facility and put them on an actual ship. The International Maritime Organization (IMO) addressed this with onboard testing, but again there was something of a disconnect, Riggio believes, because the manufacturers themselves got to select which ship they used so that everything could be done perfectly. Once the doors were thrown open to fitting thousands of ships, this created a lot of challenges.

Filters are tested for a very specific organic removal rate, he explains, but issues become apparent due to high sedative flows that ships would experience in operation. For example, there might be a number of different river deltas feeding into ports with different sediment loads and ships serving those ports could be drawing a lot of mud, silt and dirt into the

vessel, which could have an impact on the filter performance.

It makes things complicated for ships when ballast rates and cargo rates get out of balance. The amount of cargo coming on must equal the amount of ballast coming off and vice versa to ensure stability. It is essential, therefore, for ships to have a predictable ballast flow, explains Riggio. “Even if it’s slower or half the rate, you know you are going to be able to move cargo at this rate.”

Filtersafe joined the market in the mid-2000s, designing what Riggio believes remains the only purpose-built ballast water filter; other filters were designed for other purposes, he says, and not specifically for ballast water.

After comprehensive testing by industry experts, Filtersafe was able to demonstrate that its filters were, quite simply, exceptionally good at cleaning. The company also devised its own test — the FACT test — which tries to simulate more accurately a vessel installation in ideal conditions. Inlet and outlet pressures are specifically regulated so it is possible to track what happens if minimum requirements for the system are not being met.

Such testing enabled the company to tailor different types of solutions after attending vessels to establish why the system was not performing according to specification.

Filtersafe offers a staged cleaning solution by which the number of cleaning nozzles can be increased for vessels that operate in dirtier water. While cleaning levels can be increased where necessary, this does not involve changing the filter, simply the nozzles. This means the company can assess what cleaning solution is needed to maintain a certain flow, for a certain time, in specific water conditions.

“We can help to improve the flow rate through the filter and help to give them a more predictable outcome to their cleaning,” says Riggio.

Filtersafe is seeing its filter systems being placed ahead of other treatment systems on ships to improve overall performance. “It never really occurred to me that someone would want to put another filter ahead, so we started talking about it,” Riggio explains. Now, fitting a filter ahead of the existing one is becoming a bigger market than the company anticipated.

All the components of a system are intimately tied together and changes could potentially affect the type approval situation as far a treatment system is concerned. Placing an additional filter ahead of the system to ensure cleaner water is a solution that does not affect type approval. “It is cheaper to add another filter than replace the whole system that you have. At least we are able to provide them with a solution that allows their vessels to operate longer and closer to their rated capacity.”

Riggio explains that shipowners and operators are approaching Filtersafe to provide solutions to all sorts of filtration problems — and this includes ensuring that crew know how to operate systems. “To me, everything about ballast has always been ‘how do we make it easy for the crews’. If a system does not work for a crew member, they are going to find a way around it,” he says.

Making these systems as usable as possible ultimately results in successfully protecting the marine environment. With this in mind, the company’s engineers make regular visits to ships to ensure systems are working efficiently.

The company is also constantly innovating. One improvement it is currently looking at is to deal with the issue of corrosion. Filtersafe screens are very visible, he says, and therefore attract many particles, including iron filings that stain the screen and corrode. “If you are not getting close to the mesh, you are not cleaning that off,” he explains.

The company is aiming for a problem-free screen that will last for five years, or the time between drydockings of the ship. “We are being very proactive on that,” Riggio says.

Another issue he mentions is filter cake and the parts of the system that remain dirty even after the filter is cleaned. However, there is almost no filter cake with the company’s filters he says, meaning a system retains its full suction pressure.

However, the correct initial installation is key. Often the problem with ballast water filters is they are placed in the last available spot, which is difficult to access and maintain, and therefore people don’t check they work.

“Making sure the systems work is a goal we need to have as an industry,” he says. “We need to understand that we have taken the most complicated disinfection technology that exists and we have to fit it on a ship.

“For ship operators, it is the eighth most important thing they are doing at any given time. It has to happen seamlessly as they are busy keeping the ship stable, preventing fire, shifting cargo and dealing with a lot of other things.”

Filtersafe continues to share its knowledge with the industry, providing advice on best practice when installing filters, how to get the most out of the system and what the industry needs to look for. “The ballast water market is big enough for everyone. Sharing knowledge makes every system better,” Riggio says.

“At the end of the day, the market succeeds or fails as a market and not as a series of competitors.”

“Making sure the systems work is a goal we need as an industry. We need to understand that we have taken the most complicated disinfection technology that exists and we have to fit it on a ship”