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HyCa Technologies
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HyCator™: BWT Reactor System
A high technology solution for the treatment of ballast water
The introduction of invasive marine species into new environments by ships’ ballast water attached to ships’ hulls and has been identified as one of the greatest threats to the world’s oceans. HyCator™:BWT Reactor System meets the need for the treatment of the ballast waters to meet the IMO regulations.
The reactor can be easily installed as a section of the ballast water discharge or intake pipeline network. This environmentally safe and cost effective solution for the ballast water treatment is based on our own revolutionary patent-pending technology.
In Marine Environmental Protection Committee (MEPC) 55 meeting held at London in October, 2006 [of International Maritime Organization (IMO), the nodal world body of United Nations for all maritime affairs], our technology was reviewed and is listed as one of the most probable solutions for the ballast water treatment problem.
Key benefits of the HyCator™: BWT Reactor System are:
(a) Geometrical Advantages- Offer a simple solution to the ballast water disinfection problem by fitting the patent-pending reactor system in the existing pipelines.
- Device can be fabricated as per the optimized design procedure developed by HyCa based on the experimental and computational fluid dynamic approach and is fitted as a part of the section of the pipeline.
- It occupies no additional space on the ship and if mounted vertically has a small footprint.
- The maintenance and installation of the unit can be performed by any fitter onboard the ship.
- Can be used as a part of the existing ballast system and once optimized does not need special monitoring.
- Can be operated during the intake and discharge of the ballast water or during the voyage in a circulation mode to meet the IMO guidelines.
(b) Environmental Advantages
- No addition of chemical is needed and hence is environmentally completely safe.
- No chemical storage or synthesis on board the ship, so that the ship’s safety is not compromised.
- No release of any foreign chemical, biologically active (live) or radioactive substance in the sea during Ballast water discharge.
- No additional power required, except when operated in a circulatory mode.
- A small percentage of H2O2 (Hydrogen Peroxide), which is generated as a result of the reactor activity, aids in the disinfection process as H2O2 is a strong oxidizing agent. The concentration of H2O2 is very localized and does not cause any corrosion.
Working Principles of HyCator™:BWT Reactor System
Sea water is pumped through the precision engineered HyCator™:BWT reactor system before it is taken in the ballast water tank or discharged to the ocean . The reactor ensures that the invasive marine species are eliminated so as to meet the IMO guide lines for the discharge of the ballast water.
The precision engineered high technology treatment system is robust and well suited for the hardy invasive marine organisms present in the harsh sea conditions and it would not require any additional skills for service and maintenance other than needed for the ballast water pump and piping systems. The treatment also prevents the risk of biological corrosion caused due to the acid generated by the metabolic activities of the micro organisms.
The precision engineered HyCator™:BFT system consists of a reactor where the ballast water is subjected to controlled magnitude, random and targeted pressure variations so as to generate precise gas, gas-vapor and vapour filled cavities. The cavities are allowed to grow to a desired size and then made to oscillate or collapsed under highly controlled conditions. The collapsing cavities generate spherically diverging shock-waves (symmetric collapse) or surface normal liquid jets (asymmetric collapse) of magnitude high enough to either explode, implode or shear and shatter the invasive marine organisms (by shock wave) or cut open (liquid jets) the same rendering them nonviable.
Installations
The HyCator™:BWT reactor system can be easily installed in the ballast water pipeline network without any significant modifications and can be done by in house service / maintenance personnel.
Maintenance
The HyCator™:BWT reactor system requires minimum / zero operational supervision and maintenance, freeing the personnel for other productive work.