What is an oily water separator, and how does it benefit your vessel?

This type of water treatment system removes oil particles from bilge water. Oily water separators that adhere to  the IMO MEPC standards and have been specifically designed to be used in machinery space bilges of ships, making a system of this caliber an essential component of your vessel—especially if you enjoy avoiding fines.

To discharge water safely from your ship, you must comply with all maritime regulations; this is where an oily water separator comes in. For example, current maritime rules state that the oil content in discharged water must be less than 15 ppm. So to stay in compliance and avoid fines, you need a system to treat your oily bilge water to get to that standard before discharging.

Your oily water separator is an integral part of your vessel’s bilge water treatment system. Consisting of a separator unit, a filter unit, and an oil level monitoring-and-controlling unit, your separator will work to coalesce, filter, and remove impurities and oil from your bilge water. The result? You’ll be able to safely discharge water overboard as long as the oil content is within appropriate limits. 

That all sounds great, but what happens if your oily water separator malfunctions or turns faulty? At the very least, you could be at risk of breaching International Maritime Organization (IMO) guidelines, which could, in turn, put you at risk for steep fines. Maritime regulations dictate that discharged water must have an oil content of less than 15 ppm. Your oily water separator must be working well in order to help you meet that goal and avoid getting in trouble with your local authorities. 

If you enjoy avoiding fines and being in charge of a vessel that’s running like clockwork, it’s well worth investing in oily water separator maintenance. One key part of this maintenance is replacing spare parts on time. This can get confusing, but, fortunately, the experts at H2O have your back. Here’s what you need to know about spare parts and replacement schedules for your oily water separator.

An oily water separator is a component of your vessel’s bilge water treatment system responsible for removing oil from bilge water. This type of system is crucial for the function of your vessel—and crucial for your bottom line because failing to discharge water safely can result in steep fines. 

Maritime regulations state that the oil content of your discharged water must be less than 15 ppm. Your oily water separator can help you achieve that goal, but only if it’s up to the task and properly sized for your system and your needs.

Your vessel’s marine sanitation device (MSD) is a piece of equipment that has specifically been designed to treat and discharge your sewage in a safe—and compliant—manner. Not only is your MSD important for keeping you and your crew safe and sanitary, but it’s also vital for helping you avoid pesky and expensive Coast Guard fines. 

If your MSD isn’t working properly, you’re going to need to fix it. However, there are some times when you don’t need a fix—instead, you need a new MSD. These devices don’t last forever! Even high-quality marine sanitation devices have an expiration date. 

Updating or even upgrading your MSD on a regular basis is crucial for the health and safety of your vessel. By keeping your MSD up to date or even getting a better one, you’ll avoid myriad unsanitary scenarios. You’ll be better able to keep up with the growing needs of your crew. And, because you’ll be complying with boat sewage regulations and avoiding fines, you’ll be helping out your bottom line. 

Boat owners or rig operators face stern boat sewage regulations and steep repercussions surrounding the use of their marine sanitation device.  There are many good reasons for this. For one, if you’re operating a sewage marine sanitation device, you want to make sure that you’re keeping the environment around your boat safe for the good of everyone, including yourself.

In order to ensure that everyone in U.S. waters follows the same rules, the United States Coast Guard (USCG) issues a set of regulations for appropriate marine sanitation device use. The International Maritime Organization (IMO) and the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) also have comprehensive, easily accessible information to ensure that everyone knows how to make the sea a safe place for everyone to be. 

What are these boat sewage regulations? Do they apply to every marine sanitation device (or all types of MSDs?) Are there any updates boat owners need to know about for 2022? Have the events of the past few years have any impact on marine sanitation device use, or best practices for managing safe discharge? What can happen if you aren’t in compliance—and what do you need to do to ensure that you aren’t going to get slapped with any hefty fines? We’ll cover all of this and more in this handy guide.

Wondering what an oily water separator is and how it benefits your vessel?

This type of water treatment system is responsible for removing oil particles from bilge water. Oily water separators that adhere to the IMO MEPC standards are specifically designed to be used in machinery space bilges of ships, making a system of this caliber an essential component of your vessel—especially if you enjoy avoiding fines. 

In order to discharge water safely from your ship, you’ll need to comply with all maritime regulations for doing so. This is where an oily water separator comes in. Current maritime regulations state that the oil content in discharged water must be less than 15 ppm. In order to stay in compliance and avoid fines, you need a system to treat your oily bilge water to get to that standard before discharging.

Your electrochlorination system is a big investment – one where the project specifications play a huge role in the system cost.

A high-quality electrochlorination system passes an electric current through salty water. By doing so, an electrochlorination system produces hypochlorite that is used to prevent biofouling. 

Many owners do not understand how much of an impact that required project specifications have on the purchase price for these systems. Sometimes customer specifications and standards can double or even triple standard system costs! Let’s talk about the system components that drive these costs so you can understand your investment or take steps to make yours as economical as possible - while still meeting all necessary standards.

When it comes to effective biofouling control, there are few components more essential to your system’s processes than electrochlorination cells. These cells generate chlorine that can help prevent inefficient, expensive system downtime by controlling biofouling organisms such as barnacles, mussels, and film-forming microbes. 

As electrochlorination cells do their work, they will produce byproducts called hydroxides. These can clog the cells , resulting in inefficiency and even failure. 

To make sure that your electrochlorination cells can do their jobs correctly, you need to perform consistent maintenance. The most important part of that maintenance involves removing hydroxide deposits through effective cleaning practices. If you do, your electrochlorination cells and hypochlorite generator will be able to operate continuously for years. 

The alternative? A very costly—and premature—replacement. Let’s discuss the best way to avoid that outcome through regular acid cleaning practices.

Your sodium hypochlorite generator keeps your rig or vessel’s cooling water systems free of biofouling. This system is essential—and expensive. Fortunately, routine maintenance and consistent check-ins on its performance will go a long way towards protecting your hypochlorite generator and its parts as well as your investment.  

However, it’s equally crucial to have an expert inspect your hypochlorite generator from time to time. Your annual inspection will serve as a baseline to help you keep tabs on your generator throughout the year, and also help your team flag issues for immediate maintenance to avoid unpleasant surprises with higher-cost repairs later on. 

Interested in what your inspector will be assessing during your hypochlorite generator’s annual checkup? This checklist will give you an idea of what they will be looking out for.

Offshore platforms and drilling rigs are in essence a small community of people living and working at sea. Just like with community water systems reliability and safety are of vital importance. Your watermaker helps meet the need of your floating community, which is often located hundreds of miles from an alternative source of fresh, safe water. As this is the case, your watermaker is as important to you as any piece of production equipment.  Watermaker manufacturers realize this and build water treatment systems that are built to last.