Hyde Marine’s ballast water treatment system earns US Coast Guard AMS approval

Hyde Marine, a subsidiary of Calgon Carbon, has earned Alternate Management System (AMS) approval from the US Coast Guard (USCG) for its Hyde GUARDIAN® ballast water treatment system (BWTS).

Being the first step in obtaining full USCG Type Approval, the latest approval will allow the BWTS to be used on vessels for five years to give the vessels time to comply with the USCG Ballast Water Discharge Standards.

All the vessels with ballast capacities ranging from 1,500m³/hr and 5,000m³/hr and operating in US waters are required to meet those standards by the time of their first major dry docking after 1 January 2014.

Hyde Marine president and CCC – UV Technologies Division vice president John Platz said, "Ship owners and operators seeking to mitigate downtime and ensure timely vessel compliance are encouraged to place orders for BWT systems now before the supply of accepted systems becomes strained."

The ballast water treatment by Hyde GUARDIAN is a chemical-free process that uses automatic backflushing depth filtration to remove sediment and organisms, alongside a powerful ultraviolet disinfection system to prevent the spread of aquatic invasive species.

The compact, modular design of the system offers low power consumption, low pressure drop and simple, fully automatic operation, making it a technically attractive solution for any type of vessel, claimed the company.

Hyde Marine is one of the first companies to earn AMS approval for its ballast water treatment system, which was also one of the first systems to get IMO Type approval earlier in 2009, besides being the first BWTS accepted into the US Coast Guard’s Shipboard Technology Evaluation Programme (STEP).

The system underwent testing and validation process at the Royal Netherlands Institute for Sea Research (NIOZ), which complies with IMP G8 guidelines.

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Image: Vessels operating in US waters with ballast capacities between 1,500m³/hr and 5,000m³/hr will be required to meet USCG Ballast Water Discharge Standards. Photo: Courtesy of US Coast Guard.