What is the technology behind a scrubber treatment unit?

As a scrubber generates polluted wash water, it is essential to have a water treatment unit (WTU). A WTU can remove harmful matter stemming from the combustion process to comply with IMO discharge limits on scrubber wash water and fight ocean acidification. A WTU can take various shapes and utilize several technologies. Still, with more than 20 years of experience within the filtration industry, we have thoroughly refined our ceramic membrane technology, which delivers significant advantages in marine scrubber water treatment. Let us dive into the technology of a scrubber water treatment unit.

A scrubber water treatment unit can remove polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAH), particulate matter (PM), and other unwanted particles. This process benefits the environment by fighting ocean acidification.

A closed-loop scrubber requires a marine scrubber water treatment system to treat the bleed flow from the scrubber’s process tank. Learn more about the differences between open-loop scrubbers, closed-loop scrubbers, and hybrid scrubbers.

Ceramic Membrane Technology

Based on more than 20 years of experience in the filtration industry, our scrubber wastewater treatment's core element is our unique, patented ceramic membrane technology. Our ceramic membranes are made of the durable and long-lasting material silicon carbide, the second hardest material in the world, only surpassed by diamonds. It is the hardest human-made material ever made. Learn more about the unique material silicon carbide here. Our ceramic membranes operate within the ultrafiltration range, can handle up to 800 ˚C, have an unmatched flux, and are chemically resistant, which means that they can withstand alkaline and acidic waters.

Additionally, a significant benefit of utilizing membranes is that these generate a much lower amount of effluent than what is typically delivered by a closed-loop scrubber. Up to 95% of the feed that enters the WTU ends up as permeate. Learn more about our unique silicon carbide filtration membranes here.

Ceramic Membranes For Mining Wastewater Treatment

Membrane housings

Our wastewater treatment unit has a housing of either 99 or 137 tubular ceramic membranes arranged in a crossflow filtration configuration. This configuration method is highly applicable for challenging applications with a high fouling tendency, such as scrubber wash water. Learn more about crossflow filtration here.

Membrane Cleaning

As the membranes operate, soot and particles will eventually accumulate on the surface and cause membrane fouling. Fouling is frequently removed as the cross-flow works as a rinsing mechanism, which rinses the membrane surface with feedwater. This process increases the time interval that a filtration unit can be operational without further cleaning. When further cleaning is necessary, backwash is performed. Still, for the ceramic membranes to operate efficiently and maintain a stable capacity with high sludge production, they require periodic cleaning to remove soot and particles from all surfaces. This is done with a chemical cleaning-in-place (CIP). The frequency of backwash and CIP depends on the operating conditions of the vessel’s engine. The cleaning processes can occur either automatically or semi-automatically, ensuring low manual maintenance and easy operation. Learn more about how ceramic membranes are cleaned here.

Modular Design for Flexible Installation

A marine scrubber water treatment unit is compact, meaning that it solely takes up a small physical footprint of your vessel. This solution can be installed on new scrubbers or retrofitted onto existing scrubbers. Moreover, your capacity can always increase as it is easy to add more WTUs continually. A WTU is highly efficient, ensuring efficient and high-quality scrubber water treatment in compliance with current and future regulations set by the IMO or local authorities. Learn more about the scrubber water discharge limits here.

Marine Knowledge E-book

If you want to learn more about the marine industry, you can download our Marine Industry Knowledge e-book.

Learn everything worth knowing about marine scrubbers, wash water treatment, and how to comply with the IMO 2020 sulfur cap.

Read about emerging trends affecting the maritime industry, marine regulations, and how to stay compliant now and in the future.

At LiqTech, our goal is to minimize the negative impacts of living an improved lifestyle. With innovative clean technology, we reduce the harmful effects caused by various polluting industries, including the marine industry, in line with current and emerging environmental regulations. We want to share our knowledge with you; therefore, we have created a universe full of marine knowledge.

Download E-Book