The new BIO-SEA M series ballast water treatment system launched last year by the French UV water treatment specialist BIO-UV Group has been approved by the U.S. Coast Guard (USCG).
Bio-UV Group has been certified by the U.S. Coast Guard in December 2021, and before that successfully completed tests under the supervision of det Nordines (DNV), which also evaluated and issued approvals for all technical documentation and paperwork. At the same time, BIO-UV Group's BIO-SEA M series ballast water treatment system was approved by the International Maritime Organization in September 2021.
BIO-UV Group said, "Technically, the core components and disinfection properties of the M Series are the same as those of the B Series, which received IMO approval in 2017 and the U.S. Coast Guard's type approval in 2018." However, since we designed a new reactor, we needed to update the type approval. The previously approved B Series system incorporates a single lamp reactor that requires multiple B reactors to be installed in parallel to achieve high throughput, which requires specific manifolds for hydraulic balancing and can take up a lot of space. Our new BIO-SEA M-Series system is based on a multi-lamp reactor equipped with 2-7 lamps in a single chamber for a more compact design with the same throughput capacity, allowing up to 2 reactors to be installed in parallel. ”
Bio-UV Group's BIO-SEA M series ballast water system was officially disclosed in June 2021, and the system is specifically designed to optimize the footprint and installation costs of medium-flow ballast water treatment systems, compared to other UV systems on the market, the number of UV lamps fused is smaller, and the space height required is achieved to the lowest.
Biological dose testing also confirms that equal or higher UV doses can be obtained using Mreactors compared to earlier designs. Environmental tests were also completed at Force Technologies' plant in Denmark, which validated the robustness, design and availability of the reactor in a marine environment, particularly in terms of vibration.
Certification is very important during the decision-making process of a shipowner's ballast water treatment system. The new certification marks that the U.S. Coast Guard has confirmed that BIO-UV Group's third-generation ballast water treatment system, the UV reactor, has high-performance capabilities that enable shipowners to benefit from BIO-UV Group's patented UV water treatment technology when selecting a medium-flow ballast water treatment system.
The BIO-SEA M series is currently available as a module or skid-mounted system with fewer piping components, short lead times and immediate delivery of several units.
According to the International Ship Network, as of January 2022, BIO-UV Group's current handheld orders exceeded 100 BIO-SEA devices, almost double the same period last year.