Langh Tech’s ballast water management system has received US Coast Guard type approval, the first UV-based system in the world to do so.
The LanghBW system was among the few systems receiving approval for treating marine water only at intake in IMO areas, allowing free deballasting without energy needed for treatment.
This approval follows the IMO’s four months ago. “We are proud to announce being the first maker to have one-way treatment also approved by USCG, significantly reducing time and energy needed for ballasting operations,” said Langh Tech’s product manager Mr Tervonen.
“This feature is especially impactful when operating in turbid waters where systems often need to restrict flowrate and treatment can take a long time both during ballasting and deballasting. With one-way treatment there are none of the restrictions typical for UV systems when deballasting, allowing even deballasting by gravity,” he added.
As well as reducing operating costs, one-way treatment reportedly increases the lifetime of the UV lamps as they are not required for deballasting. The UV lamps are housed in a cassette within the reactor which can be slid out for easy cleaning.
The approval, granted on 15 September, includes models LanghBW300 and LanghBW600 for treating ballast water up to 300m³/h and 600m³/h respectively, with models up to 1500m³/h scheduled to be added to the approval by the end of 2022.
