BALPURE® is one of the most tested and proven ballast water treatment systems.
For more than eight years, the BALPURE system has undergone extensive testing and received third-party verification for meeting rigorous standards for performance, corrosion and safety.
IMO and Class Society Type Approvals
The BALPURE system is Type-Approved to meet the imminent IMO regulations for ballast water treatment.
- Type Approval received July 2011*
- Final Approval received October 2010 at IMO MEPC61
- Basic Approval received March 2010 at IMO MEPC60
* BUNDESAMT FÜR SEESCHIFFFAHRT UND HYDROGRAPHIE (BSH), Hamburg, Germany was the approving agency for the BALPURE system.
Type Approval was received from Bureau Veritas in May 2012. Class society Type Approval applications are in process with ABS, DNV, GL and LR. Severn Trent De Nora is actively pursuing Alternate Management System status with the USCG, with an objective to be one of the first ballast water management systems with the USCG Type Approval.
Pilot Testing
The BALPURE system was pilot tested at the University of Washington at Marrowstone Island in 2004-2005.
Land-based Testing
Extensive land-based testing was undertaken at a range of renowned global testing facilities:
- Naval Research Labs Key West (Florida, USA) in 2008
- Royal Netherlands Institute for Sea Research (NIOZ) in 2009
- Maritime Environmental Resources Center (Maryland, USA) in 2009
Shipboard Testing
Shipboard testing of the BALPURE system was undertaken on the California Maritime Academy training ship, the 150 meter T.S. Golden Bear, from May to December 2010. The BALPURE system successfully completed shipboard testing in December 2010, surpassing requirements for IMO G8 Guidelines for approval of Ballast Water Management Systems and IMO Ballast Water Convention D-2 Standards.
Commercial Testing
Commercial testing of the BALPURE system continues to be undertaken on the S/R American Progress, a 175 meter, 46,000 dwt, double-hull U.S. flag tank ship, operated by SeaRiver Maritime, Inc. The installation received American Bureau of Shipping (ABS) certification in 2008. The vessel was accepted into the United States Coast Guard Shipboard Technology Evaluation Program (STEP) in August 2009 and was authorized to discharge treated ballast water in California in August 2010.
Corrosion Testing
The corrosion testing, performed by GL Noble Denton, concluded that the BALPURE system has no effect on coated steel, naval bronze and Copper-Nickel alloys. Testing also proved an insignificant effect on bare steel within the limits of statistical error for the effects of normal seawater on bare steel.
Computational Fluid Dynamic Modeling (CFD)
A four-month program was conducted with Germanischer Lloyd in Hamburg Germany to insure proper injection and mixing of oxidants into the ballast system. This has led to patent applications for proper injection-mixing components and verification of scaled systems to properly treat 5,000 m3/h ballast flow applications.
