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Mobile Ship Stripping Unit Handles 2 Processes

Thursday, September 23, 2010

Filtration systems maker GKD has introduced a mobile station for stripping ships that combines filtration and briquetting in a single unit. The heart of the unit is GKD’s new compact filter system, called MAXFLOW.

The system saves time and money in ship repair and maintenance, while helping companies comply with tightening disposal regulations, the manufacturer says.

Development and Testing
 
“Increasingly stringent environmental requirements, particularly in regard to waste water, mean that the washing water used in paint removal and its subsequent economic disposal play an even greater role,” the company said in a release. “Legislators are currently working on stricter regulations intended to ensure complete proof of proper waste removal.”

The product is the brainchild of Volkert Meinz, the CEO of Beinlich Pumpen GmbH, a supplier of gear and radial piston pump systems, GKD says. Meinz spent years at sea as a technical officer and developed the technology for the filter station, which was in development for a year and has been in operation for the last year at a shipyard in Hamburg.

Greater Filtration, Less Water

The system provides particle separation down to the micron range without the need for added filter aids, the company says. The closed-process system reduces the use of fresh water from up to 12 cubic meters per hour to the same quantity in several weeks, it says. 

The integrated press reportedly compresses the filtered solid matter into non-drip briquettes with remaining moisture of less than 60%, reducing the amount of hazardous waste and its disposal costs. The purified water is then treated to produce full-fledged process water.

An additional chemical filtration step treats the waste water again, ensuring that it meets the stringent requirements for feeding it into the local sewage system, according to the supplier.

“The treatment method for process water from paint stripping will be significantly faster and more economical,” says Meinz. "Keeping the new [EU] laws in mind, which will require proof of disposal, the new mobile filter station offers shipyards and cleaning firms the operational reliability they need at an affordable price."