ERMA FIRST BALLAST

B T WATER
R TREAT
TMENT SYSTEM
M

The ERMA FIR

RST Ballastt Water Trreatment is
i an autonomous
adva
anced systtem, developed and designed to meet the
t D-2
stan ational Convvention forr the Control and
ndards of tthe Interna
Man
nagement o
of Ships' Ba
allast Wate
er and Sed
diments, byy using
physsical separation, filtration and electrolysiss process to
t treat
ballast.

Systtem Descrip
ption

MA FIRST B
ERM Ballast Watter Treatm
ment system
m is comprrised of the
e below sttages durin
ng Ballast Water
W
Trea
atment process:

 Filtratio
on. A self cleaning ba
asket filterr with pore
e size of 20
00 microns is used forr the removal of
particle
es with size larger of 200
2 micronss, in order to
t ensure a high hydroc
cyclone perrformance.

 Physica
al Separatio
on. It is efffected thrrough a mu
ulti-hydrocy
yclone sep
parator, ha
aving a hyd
draulic
load of 100 m3/hr each, sepa
arating partticles largerr than 20 microns.
m

 Electro
olysis. By using an ele
ectrolytic cell,
c having
g low volta
age direct current
c electrodes ma
ade of
titanium
m and speccial coatings, sodium hypochlorit
h te is producced for the
e disinfectio
on of the ballast
b
water.

 Neutrallization. Used
U only during
d de-b
ballasting, a dosing pump
p is providing a sodium
s bisulfate
solution
n to the ballast water for neutra
alizing the remaining
r free
f chlorin
ne (down to
o 0.1ppm) within
w
the trea
ated ballastt.

1 
 

200 μm
m self clean
ning filter Cyc
clonic Sepa
arator Ellectrolysis Cell

The
e Treatmen
nt Process  

Duriing Ballastiing, the ve

essel’s Balla i delivering the balla
ast Pump is ast intake to
t the selff-cleaning basket
b
filte
er, where sediments and es larger than 200 μm are retaine
a particle he effluent passes from the
ed. Then th
hydrocyclone sseparator stages, whe
ere particles of larger than 20 μm
m are sepa
arated using
g the centrrifugal
forc
ce effect. After the above proccess, Balla
ast water clean
c from particles and sedim
ments enterrs the
ctrolytic cell, where specially coated electrrodes are producing
elec p lo
ow concenttration free
e chlorine fo
or the
disin
nfection off the ballasst water fro
om micro-o
organisms. The
T producct of this process
p flow
ws to the ballast
b
tank
ks so that th
he residual oxidants disinfect anyy harmful organisms
o ta
aken on boa
ard.

Duriing de-balllasting, the

e pre-filteriing equipm
ment, cyclon
nic separattor and ele
ectrolytic cell is by-pa
assed,
and only neutrralization of
o the tota
al residual chlorine is performed g aqueous sodium bisulfate
d by adding
solu
ution to the ballast water through
h a dosing pump.
p

The whole proccess is monitored and controlled by a centra

al data logg
ger, located
d in the con
ntrol panel of the
systtem, thus offfering a fu
ully automatted, user frriendly operational pro
ocess.

2 
 

e Advantage
The es:

The ERMA FIR

RST represe
ents the id
deal solution for the
e installatio
on and ope
eration of a Ballast Water
W
Trea
atment on b
board, due to the belo
ow distinctive advanta
ages:

 High se
ediment rem
moval efficciency with stable operration.

 No need
d for back-fflushing tim
me due to th
he special type
t of filtrration used..

 Stable p
pressure/Sttable Flow even in extreme sedim
ment uptak
ke, without clogging risks.

 No movving parts in
n any stage of the syste
em’s process.

 Compac
ct Installattion with low
l footprint (i.e. 4.5
4 m2 for a

500m3/
/hr system)

 Very lo
ow chlorine concentration prod
duced by an
a advance
ed

electro
olysis cell unit.

 Low po
ower consu
umption due to the efffective ele
ectrolysis ce
ell

(i.e. appx 15 kW fo
or a 500 m3
3/hr unit)

 High En
nergy Efficiency and stable operation even
n in very lo
ow

salinity waters (<3 PSU) and cold

c waterss (up to 3oC).

 No corrrosion risk in the balla

ast water ta
anks.

 No need
d for chemiical storage
e and handliing.

 Very sim
mple and Fu
ully Automated Opera
ation – idea
al for crew use. 

 No sparre parts, du
ue to prolon
nged lifetim
me of system
m compone
ents.

 Simple Piping installation, du

ue to skid-m
mounted un
nits.

3 
 

The
e Approval Status

The Basic Approval dossie

er is submitted to IMO
O on

the 29th of March

M 2010 and will be evalua
ated

duriing MEPC 63
3.

d-based tests have been

Land b perforrmed in the reputable Royal Ne
etherlands Institute for Sea Ressearch
(NIO
OZ) from M
May 2010 tilll July 2010
0, successfu eted, showing not onlly full compliance witth D-2
ully comple
requ
uirements, but also ac
chieving effluent stand
dards well below.
b

Sea board testss are curren

ntly under process
p and
d Type App
proval is exp
pected to be
b received by Feb 201
12.

Insttallation Fe
eatures

The ERMA FIRS

ST system can
c be provvided in skid-mounted units, mod
dular arrang
gements or in containe
erized
unitts, in case o
of non-availlable space on board.

ERMA FIRST 500 m3/hrr Ballast Wa

ater Treatm
ment unit – Typical P&
&I diagram

4 
 

The skid-moun
nted unit comprises of the tre
eatment sttage modu
ules (i.e. filter,
f cyclonic separrators,
ctrolysis cellls) as well as the neu
elec utralization unit, flow sensors, ch
hlorine senssors, tempe
erature swittches,
sodiium bisulfatte tank and
d can be pro
ovided pre-piped for easy
e installa
ation on boa
ard.

To reach
r the required Ba
allast Pump
p capacitie
es, sufficien
nt number of treatme
ent stage modules
m mu
ust be
installed, with each modu
ule (comprised of one
e cyclonic sseparator and one elec ell) being able to
ctrolysis ce
trea
at 100 m3/h
hr ballast water.
w

E
ERMA FIRST
T 500 m3/hr Ballast Water
W Treatm
ment unit – Typical Arrangemen
A nt

ERM
MA FIRST Ba
allast Water Treatmen
nt system can be supplied as such
h to serve capacities
c r
ranging from
m 100
500 m3/h, with
m3//hr up to 25 w higherr capacity configuratio
c ons also posssible.

ERM
MA FIRST, is a compacct and enerrgy efficien
nt system, having
h a re
elatively sm
mall footprin
nt, i.e. for a 500
m3/
/hr unit, the 5 m2 and e-cconsumptio
e footprint is appx 4.5 on at appx 15
1 kW.

5