On 19 October 2017 ERMA FIRST received USCG type approval to use a technology of forty microns (40 μm) filtration, followed by full flow electrolysis Ballast Water Treatment.

It was a great achievement and an important milestone after nearly a decade in the ballast water industry. The journey to technological excellence first started in response to environmental challenges and a desire to comply with both the Interna- tional Maritime Organizsation [IMO] Ballast Water Convention and USCG ETV proto- col requirements.

The ERMA FIRST BWTS research and development programme was launched 14 years ago. Until that point, chlorine-based disinfection appeared to be a suitable pro- cess to achieve the IMO D-2 performance standards. As a result, ERMA FIRST’s initial Ballast Water Management System [BWMS] was designed to use only a single treatment approach without a pre-treatment step. Full flow electrochlorination was selected with a maximum Total Residual Oxidant (TRO) of 10 mg/L. Pre-certifica- tion tests were conducted at the Royal Netherlands Institute for Sea Research (NIOZ) for the evaluation of the system’s performance prior to the initialisation of the official land based tests.

This comprehensive whitepaper examines the journey to technological excellence.

To download a copy of the paper click on the button below.

Download