Preventing damage from biofouling is critical to keep vessels in operation but, due to the challenging nature of the marine environment, any solution to the problem must meet strict operational criteria. Here Darren Dale, director of product management at Evoqua Water Technologies, discusses what operators need to prioritise in terms of service and maintenance requirements when selecting marine growth prevention technology.
It’s all well and good if a technology meets operational objectives and delivers efficiency, cost and safety benefits, but what about its ongoing requirements? Are service and maintenance needs compatible with the unique demands of the marine environment? Given the specific needs of vessels, it is vital that any technology, including marine growth prevention solutions, guarantees stability, reliability and simplicity of operation throughout its lifecycle.
Marine growth prevention technology protects a vessel from the damage, cost and potential downtime that can happen as a result of biofouling. If there isn’t an effective prevention system in place, this fouling can restrict the flow of water, cause damage to the cooling system and has the potential to cause downtime for the vessel. The most effective solution today for marine growth prevention is electrochlorination technology. It works by producing in-situ a dilute solution of sodium hypochlorite which is injected into the water circuit.
The first factor to consider when assessing an electrochlorination system’s suitability in terms of service and maintenance requirements is stability of operation. This is essential as vessel operators need to know the system will continue to perform port to port, regardless of changes in environment such as water temperature and salinity. The Evoqua Chloropac® system, a patented electrochlorination technology utilising concentric tube electrolysis cells, offers users operational flexibility with temperature and salinity variations of 5-32oC and 25 – 45 PSU (14-25g/l.).
The second quality technology must deliver against is reliability. With no room for error at sea, systems need to perform consistently, giving operators confidence that they will continue do so throughout the journey. Servicing is central to keeping systems running at maximum efficiency and prolonging the life of parts, but there must be minimal engineering time required in the marine environment. The Chloropac® system is self-cleaning, meaning it doesn’t require acid wash or other external electrode cleaning methods which other technologies demand. This significantly reduces maintenance requirements and allows system users to operate at design output capacity at all times. As a result of its low servicing and maintenance requirements, the system provides the lowest lifecycle cost of any system on the market.
A third factor to demand from a marine growth prevention system is simplicity of maintenance. If any planned upgrade or unplanned maintenance is required, the vessel’s engineers need to be able to change parts quickly. With the Chloropac system, if operators want to upgrade the Chloropac cells at any point, for example if the vessel is using an older MK2 cell and an upgrade to the latest MK4 technology is desired, this can be done by the ship’s engineers in as little as a couple of hours due to the system’s modular design.
The floating storage and regasification unit (FSRU) the Golar Eskimo, is one example of how the Chloropac system’s low service and maintenance requirements are delivering real benefit. The vessel upgraded to the MK4 cells to improve efficiency, reduce ongoing maintenance and meet tight cost parameters, both in terms of capital expenditure and lifetime costs.
With most vessel journeys being mission critical, keep stability, reliability and simplicity front of mind when selecting a marine growth prevention system or managing an upgrade of existing technology. It is essential to assess the whole lifecycle of technology, including ongoing service and maintenance requirements. It is only then you get a true picture of its suitability for a project and reap operational and cost benefits to keep you sailing safely, efficiently and without delay port to port.
To see how simple maintenance on the Chloropac® system can be, view our instructional videos here.
