The industry's recognized authority for design, engineering and application of equipment and services in the global ocean community
Issue link: http://sea-technology.epubxp.com/i/394075
www.sea-technology.com October 2014 / st 15 the type of testing used to validate them. Early in the redesign process, Hyde Marine tested and validated the components in the Hyde GUARDIAN system. "As one of the frst companies to receive IMO type ap- proval, we wanted to make sure that we were still offering one of the best available ballast water treatment tech- nologies," said Platz. Validation of new system components was a critical undertak- ing. Hyde Marine engaged its IMO approv- al administration, the United Kingdom's Maritime Coastguard Agency, and its class-approval classifcation society, Lloyds Register (London, England), to be involved in the process. Treatment Process Ballast water treatment systems typically employ two or three stages in the dis- infection process. Hyde Marine utilizes both a physical separa- tion stage and a physical disin- fection stage. For Hyde Marine, the physical disinfection stage takes place in a UV chamber using medium-pressure UV lamps. UV light is emitted into the ballast water stream both during ballasting and debal- lasting to render the organisms being carried in the ballast stream incapable of reproduction by disrupting their DNA. Medium-pressure UV lamps emit light over a broad spec- trum, rather than the narrow-band UV radiation emitted by low-pressure UV lamps. For the physical separation stage, Hyde Marine has his- torically used a stacked-disc fltration system with a nomi- nal 55-micron mesh size in its Hyde GUARDIAN BWTS. The stacked-disc flters are well-suited for the ballast water market because the depth of fltration provided by the discs yields excellent sediment removal rates. Also, they have been immune to clogging problems that plagued competing systems. Additionally, the nonferrous design rendered them H yde Marine Inc. (Coraopolis, Pennsylvania) recently released the newest version of its UV-based bal- last water treatment system (BWTS), the Hyde GUARDIAN Gold BWTS. This product is the result of a two- year internal redesign and optimiza- tion of the IMO type-approved Hyde GUARDIAN system to address both the changing landscape of regula- tions and the experience gained from the company's large, in- stalled base. The redesign in- cludes a touch-screen inter- face with intuitive controls and more built-in process controls to ensure proper system operation. While the most obvious change to the system is the inclu- sion of a smaller-footprint screen flter, the process improvements are arguably more critical to the long-term success of Hyde Marine. "We are fortunate to have several customers who have installed more than ten systems on ships in their feet," said John Platz, president of Hyde Marine. "These customers have been using our systems and providing us with feed- back on how they operate in the marine environment and what we can do to improve the user experience." This feedback has led to the development of many more modes of ballasting operation than simply "ballast" and "deballast." "Customers have asked us to ensure that our system is as simple to use as their ballast pump and that they can continue to operate the way they always have. Repeat orders speak volumes about our ability to deliver on those requests," said Platz. Updating and redesigning one of the marquee brands in ballast water treatment was not without diffculty. Bal- last water treatment systems have come under scrutiny for Hyde GUARDIAN Gold: The Evolution of Ballast Water Treatment Improved System Offers Updates With Smaller Footprint By Mark Riggio • Adrienne Fazio Hyde GUARDIAN Gold ballast water treatment system with a 250-meters-cubed-per-hour fow rate.