Ships take on water in ports all over the world. It has been knowledge for some time that shore/port waters can contain chlorine resistant gut parasites Giardia Lamblia and Cryptosporidium. Current Practice is to simply filter out the micro-organisms, however there could be a market for alternatives which kill the parasites and hence ensure the safety of water embarked.
Project Details
The Royal Navy are big users of Fresh Water Embarkation Units (FWEU) to keep ships fresh water supplies uncontaminated.
Usually FWEUs are fitted to RAS points and used when embarking fresh water from shore supplier in areas of the world where fresh water quality may be considered a cause for concern.
Due to portability requirement, we designed a modular unit that was light weight and complete with castors to enable relocation. However due the simplicity of the design, the units use a large number of filter elements.
In order to reduce operation costs, the following solutions were implemented:
- Increasing the number of filtration stage(s).
- Incorporation of long-life or self cleaning filters.
- Latest generation filter elements.
- Correct sizing of filter to flow.
As an example, the cost of filter elements for the portable, single stage filtration unit were £54K as opposed £6K for the above, multi-stage filtration plant.
We can look to upgrade or modify existing systems regardless of the original manufacturer or supplier.
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- Multi-Stage Embarkation
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- 3D Rendering Example
A fixed solution such as ultrafiltration could be an alternative technology. For smaller ships, UV disinfection combined with a pre-filter may also be another answer.
However, different technologies are typically severely restricted, due to footprint, weight and available power supply – an investigation will be required.
If embarkation units are of interest please contact us for more more details.
