EMEA News
High-Speed Separator Cuts Fuel Bill and Waste Disposal Costs
Baltic ferry operator AS Tallink Grupp (Tallink) has installed Alfa Laval's PureDry high-speed separator on one of their vessels, cutting fuel costs by up to 2%, and significantly reducing waste disposal fees.
In their press release, Alfa Laval, said that shipowners retrofitting existing vessels will see a return on their investment within the first year, or sooner with newbuilds.
Tallink-owned MS Silja Symphony's chief Engineer, Mats Göras, said the 58,377 gross register tonnage (grt) vessel produces 8 cubic metres of waste oil every 6 days and, "since the PureDry was commissioned we have recovered more than 150 cubic metres of re-usable fuel oil and saved a significant amount on the ship's fuel bill."
In addition to fuel savings, he said the company has reduced costly waste oil disposal by approximately 450 cubic metres per year.
Some ports, such as California, will not handle waste oil which means transporting it by road or rail to appropriate waste disposal sites, with the cost being picked up by ship owners.
With the PureDry process, waste volumes are cut by up to 99% and produce 13-15 kg of "super-dry" solids every 24 hours, which can be disposed of "as dry waste, along with oily rags, used filter cartridges, etc.
"It's not a problem as they don't require any new special means for disposal," said Mats Göras.
The system works by separating waste fuel oil from other waste oils, which is then collected in a separate waste fuel oil tank where the PureDry system extracts the fuel oil from the waste fuel oil, returning it to the bunker tank.
Alfa Laval whose headquarters are based in Lund, Sweden, said on their website that if the global merchant fleet cut its fuel bill by 2%, HFO consumption would fall by about 10.4 million tonnes per year, reducing CO2 emissions by approximately 32 million tonnes.
