A Norwegian supplier of waste heat recovery systems may have found the most viable, cost and energy-efficient method yet for treating ballast water. The technology, if proven, has the potential to shake up the ballast water treatment systems market, since the Ulmatec system would cost next to nothing to run.
While presenting the novel Pyro Central Heating System in Norway earlier this month, Jan Petter Urke, managing director of Ulmatec Pyro told Shipping World & Shipbuilder that the technology is now being developed to treat ballast water using hot water in the same way that pasteurisation is used to kill off bacteria in milk.
While the use of heat to kill alien aquatic species is nothing new, the energy required to heat the water above 65°C – the temperature at which bacteria is killed – has all but deterred shipowners from considering the process. However, Ulmatec says that the waste heat from a vessel’s engine exhaust and cooling systems can be redirected using the company’s patent-pending technology to provide completely free energy to rapidly heat up the ballast water to 100°C.
According to the company, filtration would still be needed, but no UV or chemical dosing stages would be required. ‘ We simply heat it up and then recover the heat by cooling [the water] down. It costs nothing ,’ says Urke . ‘ It is quite unique .’
Ulmatec is at the preliminary concept stage but the company already has a Norwegian shipowner interested in installing the system when available.
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Source: Imarest, October 5, 2011