Hyde Marine Ballast Water Treatment History
Hyde Marine has been involved in ballast water treatment (BWT) since 1996, when it teamed with the Univ. of Michigan to study potential technologies for BWT, particularly for ships operating in the Great Lakes St. Lawrence Seaway System. This led to Hyde's participation, beginning in 1997, as the engineering contractor for the Great Lakes Ballast Technology Demonstration Project (GLBTDP). The GLBTDP was one of the first BWT research programs in North America and conducted tests of filtration technology for BWT aboard a Canadian Great Lakes bulk carrier, the Algonorth. After a season aboard the Algonorth, the test equipment was transferred to a barge in Duluth Superior Harbor (Lake Michigan), where additional testing of the filtration system and other BWT technologies was conducted, also under the GLBTDP.
Hyde first became involved in its own BWT equipment in 2000, when it sold its initial full scale first generation system aboard the US based cruise ship Regal Princess. In 2001 Hyde sold four additional systems, two on cruise ships and one each on a container ship and chemical tanker. In 2003, after the requirements were better defined, Hyde installed a state-of-the-art filtration and UV disinfection system aboard the Coral Princess. This system, named the Hyde Guardian was tested extensively on land based installations and on board the Coral Princess in the fall of 2004. The on-board tests demonstrated the Hyde Guardian capability to meet the IMO BWT Convention requirements. This system is now first BWMS accepted into the U.S. Coast Guard STEP program. In the fall of 2006 an essentially identical system was installed aboard RCCL's Celebrity Mercury. It was commissioned early in 2007. The Hyde Guardian systems aboard the Coral Princess and Mercury were granted interim approval for use in Washington State waters by the State of Washington in 2004 and 2007 respectively. All seven systems were commercial transactions and the newest version, the Hyde Guardian has been fully commercially available since early 2003.
The HBWT system has two main components - the auto-backflushing filter and the in-line UV system. During ballasting, the flow is processed through the filter and UV system and then back to the main ballast system. During deballasting the filter is bypassed and the water flows only through the UV system and then overboard through the discharge line.
The patented stacked disc filter technology ensures reliable removal of solids and larger organisms. The filter design captures and stores large amounts of solids while the automatic back flushing allows for continuous flow while keeping the filter elements clean.
The UV system uses high output, medium pressure lamps oriented perpendicular to the fluid flow which results in high performance and compact size for easy installation. An automatic, quartz sleeve cleaning mechanism ensures consistent, reliable UV dosage. The treatment chamber is made of heavy-duty, 316L stainless steel for a long, trouble free service life.
A single control panel operates the entire ballast water treatment system (filter, UV, valves and booster pump, if required). All operations and indications can be viewed via the LCD panel, and the system can easily be integrated into the ships control system to allow for operation and monitoring in the control room.
The system is modular in configuration to fit the available space on existing vessels and Hyde has also developed a complete, skid mounted Hyde GUARDIAN® system, which has been offered for several new building programs. Orders for multiple skid mounted systems for new buildings were received in 2008.
Although there are many companies involved in BWT worldwide, none have had as much experience as Hyde Marine. To date Hyde has had a total of at least 30 years of operating experience on the seven ships fitted with its systems. Hyde is well underway with the type approval process to meet the requirements of the IMO Ballast Water Management Convention as well as the proposed new US regulations. Land based testing, at NIOZ in the Netherlands, and shipboard testing, aboard the Coral Princess, have been successfully completed under the Maritime and Coastguard Agency (MCA) and Lloyds Register in the UK.
Hyde is also involved with the commercialization and marketing of a natural biocide for BWT called Seakleen™ While not yet available for sale, Seakleen™ has also been extensively tested both on land based installations and, in 2006, at full scale aboard a 45,000 DWT tanker operating on the US West Coast. The on-board tests also show that Seakleen™ meets the IMO requirements and is used in very small concentrations, as low as 1 part per million. This product should be commercially available in 2009 or 2010. Seakleen has also been tested as a means of dealing with the so-called NOBOB problem on the Great Lakes, as it is effective even in the presence of large amounts of sediment.
Hyde Marine has been involved with the control of sediments in ballast tanks since its predecessor company began treating Great Lakes bulk carriers' ballast tanks in 1960 to reduce the amount of mud that was accumulating in the tanks. This non-toxic product, Hyde Mud Remover, has been optimized over the years and is now available as a method for controlling sediment buildup in ballast tanks as required by the IMO BWM Convention.