Marine Bilge Water Treatment

IMO MARPOL Limits the Oil in Water at Discharge

Every commercial ship over 400 gross tonnes generates bilge water from the engine room: leaks from machinery, washdown of the deck plates, fuel oil tank ballast water, and condensate from the air conditioning. Under IMO MARPOL Annex I, this bilge water cannot be discharged at sea above 15 ppm oil in water. The bilge water separator is the mandatory shipboard equipment that meets this limit; type approval to MEPC 107(49) is the regulatory baseline.

Coalescing Separator Plus Carbon Polishing

The standard configuration is a coalescing oil water separator (a small footprint version of the SorbiTech industrial coalescer) followed by an activated carbon polishing bed. The coalescer captures the dispersed oil to single digit ppm; the carbon bed polishes the dissolved hydrocarbons and any residual to deliver outlet below the 15 ppm limit with a margin. Class society type approval applies to the complete package.

Compact Footprint for Engine Room Installation

Ship engine rooms are space constrained. The SorbiTech bilge water unit is built to fit the standard engine room machinery flat with a small footprint and modest weight. Inlet, outlet, and overboard discharge connections are at standard marine flanges; electrical connection is at the standard 220 V / 440 V 60 Hz shipboard supply.

Class Society Documentation and Port State Compliance

The unit ships with the MEPC 107(49) type approval certificate, the operator manual in English (and other languages on request), and the class society documentation for installation survey. Port state control inspections check the type approval certificate and the bilge water record book; SorbiTech provides the templates and the training. Sector coverage is shipping, marine vessels, and offshore platforms across the oil and gas and transport sectors.