Inside Alfa Laval's PureBallast 3.0 BWTS

PureBallast 3.0 is less of an update than a sweeping redefinition of the system say Alfa Laval of its Ballast Water Treatment System (BWTS).

PureBallast, which was developed in cooperation with Wallenius Water, was originally launched in 2006 as the world’s very first commercially available ballast water treatment system. Since then it has matured considerably, arriving in an updated PureBallast 2.0 version with EX options in 2010. Already then there were improvements to its energy efficiency and its basic construction, but nothing to compare with the advances in PureBallast 3.0.
 
“This time we’ve completely rewritten the book when it comes to PureBallast,” says Per Warg, the Alfa Laval Business Manager responsible for the system. “We’ve achieved space savings of 50%, energy savings of up to 60% and huge improvements in flexibility and flow capacity. But we’ve also learned a great deal that can be of impact for ballast water treatment in general.”

The new design was  found with the help of a unique CFD (computational fluid dynamics) model, which was developed around a well-established model for standard UV treatment. In the new model, light sources were introduced into the equation, making it possible to see the UV dose for each of 50,000 theoretical particles (organisms) passing through the reactor.

The completed PureBallast 3.0 system, while based on the same treatment technology as its predecessors, is a remarkable leap forward in terms of its compactness, energy efficiency and flexibility. Most striking at a first glance is its size.
 
Where previous PureBallast reactors handled 250 m3/h each, individual PureBallast 3.0 reactors can handle either 300 m3/h or 1000 m3/h. Using the larger reactor, which is not much bigger than the original 250 m3/h version, the footprint of a 1000 m3/h system is literally cut in half. The bigger the system, the bigger the space savings.

However, says Alfa Laval, size is not the only thing that makes PureBallast 3.0 competitive. The new system is also as energy efficient as it is compact.

To find out more click here.