BIO-UV Group’s ballast water treatment system BIO-SEA has successfully passed all land and shipboard testing and is now IMO G8 approved without any operational restrictions.

Benoît Gillmann, President and CEO, BIO-UV Group, said: “We are delighted to have received further confirmation verifying the performance of the BIO-SEA ballast water treatment system. Our systems provide confidence to shipowners that when they invest in BIO-SEA they are investing in a quality, reliable, effective, proven, and, above all, compliant treatment system.”

Xavier Deval, Business Director, BIO-SEA, said: “BIO-UV Group has been at the vanguard of UV-based water treatment technology for more than twenty years, and was one of the very first suppliers with a BWTS design and performance record capable of meeting USCG and IMO requirements.”

Deval furthered: “This is the very best way shipowners have of ensuring their systems are up to date, compliant and capable of doing the job. We welcome the new and more rigorous approval process because the operational performance of each individual system is recorded and affords system standardisation across a shipowner’s fleet.”

Since BIO-SEA performance is unaffected by variations in water salinity or temperature and requires zero holding time in three water types, Deval said the system is “easily passing system commission tests” across all global territories and applications and part of the new ballast water rules set to enter-into-force.

From October 2021, tests will be required to verify installed systems are compliant with the D2 standard during the commissioning process.

“In order to avoid operational restrictions, shipowners need to carefully evaluate the performance of their preferred ballast water treatment system before selecting a qualified supplier. This together with good cooperation with the system integrator is key to preventing any performance issues following installation,” he said.

“Good drydock planning will be crucial in order to ensure installations are commissioned and performing according to the requirements in time. We do anticipate a mad rush at the start of 2021 for which we are well prepared. We have used the postponement of the new regulations to manufacture ahead of time to meet customer demand and have units on the shelf ready to go now!”

Available as either a skid-mounted system or a modular package to aid retrofit, the BIO-SEA range of ballast water treatment systems have been designed for flow rates between 10m3/h and 2,000m3/h.

BIO-UV Group has several hundred BIO-SEA installation operating worldwide on a wide range of vessel types, including containerships, bulk carriers, multi-cargo vessels, cruiseships, passenger ferries, offshore vessels, and mega-yachts.