ASIAN INSTITUTE OF MARITIME STUDIES

Pasay City, Philippines

Midn. Dinlasan, Romar P. 119-0399
BS MarE 22 - A2 Engr. Ivan Suriaga
AUXILIARY MACHINERY 1 B
Oily Water Separator

A ship produces oil and water mixture on a daily basis which needs to be
separated from each other, before discharging the dirty water out of ship using
equipment such as oily water separator.

MARPOL has a regulation under ANNEX I which limits the oil content in the bilge
water that vessel can legitimately discharge into the sea. It is now a requirement for all
vessels to have an oil discharge monitoring and control system along with an oil filtering
equipment known as the Oily Water Separator (OWS).

A ship engineer may work with 5-10 different makes of marine engines, but
he/she is more likely to encounter many more types and makes of OWS in his/her
career span. Even for PSC inspectors and surveyors, oily water separator (OWS) has
always been a preferred choice of machinery on the ship for inspection. Hence, it is
imperative to know and understand the basics of oil and water separator design and
how an oil and water separator works.

The primary purpose of a shipboard oily water separator (OWS) is to separate oil
and other contaminants that could be harmful for the oceans. The International Maritime
Organization (IMO) publishes regulations through the Marine Environment Protection
Committee (MEPC). On July 18, 2003, the MEPC issued new regulations that each
vessel built after this date had to follow. This document is known as MEPC 107(49) and
it details revised guidelines and specifications for pollution prevention equipment for
machinery space bilges of ships. Each OWS must be able to achieve clean bilge water
under 15 ppm of type C oil or heavily emulsified oil, and any other contaminants that
may be found. All oil content monitors (OCM) must be tamper-proof. Also whenever the
OWS is being cleaned out the OCM must be active. An OWS must be able to clear out
contaminants as well as oil. Some of these contaminating agents include lubricating oil,
cleaning product, soot from combustion, fuel oil, rust, sewage, and several other things
that can be harmful to the ocean environment.

Parts and function of an Oily Water Separator

1. Oily Water Inlet
A freshwater inlet connection is also provided to the filter unit to clean and
flush the filter. This is usually done before and after the operation of an oil
separator unit.
2. Test Cock
A valve from which a sample can be drawn for testing or visual
examination, e.g. salinometer cock on a boiler or test cock on an oily water
separator.
3. Air Vent
The air vent valves have an automatic mechanical system that controls
and maintains pressure without the assistance of an operator. The air vent valves
are made out of brass, a material that is often used in applications of this type.

4. Heating Coils
Steam or electric heating coils are provided in the upper and sometimes
lower parts of the separator, depending upon the type of oil to be separated
(heating reduces viscous drag of fluid, and also increases the density difference
between oil and water which makes separation of oil and water easier).
5. Catch Plates
catch plates which are inside a coarse separating compartment and an oil
collecting chamber.
6. Oil Valve
releases the separated oil into the designated OWS sludge tank. The
heater may be incorporated in this unit for smooth flow and separation of oil and
water.
7. Dirty Oil Tank
for storage of oils whereas some other tanks though small are equally
important for storing waste residue of machinery systems and several other
purposes.
8. Oil Indicator
continuously monitors how much oil is in the water that is pumped out the
discharge line of the OWS system. The OCM will not allow the oil concentration
of the exiting water to be above the Marpol standard of 15 ppm.
9. Relief Valve
a type of safety valve used to control or limit the pressure in a system;
pressure might otherwise build up and create a process upset, instrument or
equipment failure, or fire.
10. Coalescence Filter
used to separate vapors, liquids, soluble particles, or oil from some other
fluid through a coalescing effect. The coalescing effect is the coming together of
liquid aerosols to form a larger whole which is easier to filter out of the system
due to increased weight.
What is ODM and OCM?

Oil Discharge Monitoring

(ODM) Equipment
Oil discharge
monitoring equipment
(ODME) is based on a
measurement of oil content
in the ballast and slop
water, to measure
conformance with
regulations. The apparatus
is equipped with a GPS,
data recording functionality,
an oil content meter and a flow meter. By use of data interpretation, a computing
unit will be able to allow the discharge to continue or it will stop it using a valve
outside the deck.
A sample point on the discharge line allows for the analyzer to determine
the oil content of the ballast now and slop water in PPM. The analyzer is self-
maintaining by periodical cleansings with fresh water, and therefore requires a
minimum of active maintenance from the crew. The results of the analyzer are
sent to a computer, which determines whether the oil content values are to result
in overboard discharge or not. The valves that direct the ballast water either over
board or to slop tank are controlled by the integrated computer, and a GPS signal
further automates the process by including special areas and completes the
required input for the Oil Record Book. All oil tankers with a gross tonnage of
larger than 150 must have efficient Oil Discharge Monitoring Equipment on
board.
The oily discharge is sent out to sea through a pump. The oily mixture has
to pass through a series of sensors to determine whether it is acceptable to be
sent to the discharge pipe.
Based on regulations, the following values must be recorded by the
system:

Date and time of the discharge

Location of the ship
Oil content of the discharge in ppm
Total quantity discharged
Discharge rate
All records of Oil Detection Monitoring Equipment must be stored on
board ships for no less than 3 years. Oil Discharge Monitoring systems today
consist of a computing unit that is installed in the cargo control room. The
computer unit control and receives data from other ODME components.
 ODME systems also have an analyzing unit that contains the Oil
content meter, a fresh water valve for cleaning purposes, and a pressure
transmitter that monitors the sample flow through the measuring cell.
Oil Content Monitoring (OCM)
Equipment v
OCM continuously monitors
how much oil is in the water that is
pumped out the discharge line of the
OWS system. The OCM will not
allow the oil concentration of the
exiting water to be above the
MARPOL standard of 15 ppm. This
standard was first adopted in 1977
with Resolution A.393(X) which was
published by IMO. These standards
were updated various but the most
current resolution is MEPC 108(49).
The oil content meter will sound
an alarm if the liquid leaving the
system has an unsatisfactory
amount of oil in the mixture. If it is still above that standard, then the bilge water will be
reentered into the system until it meets the required criteria. The OCM uses light beams
to determine how oily the water in the system is. The system will then gauge the oil
concentration based on a light intensity meter. Modern oil content meters also have a
data logging system that can store oil concentration measurements for more than 18
months.
If the OCM determines that there is far too much of a type of oil, the OCM may
be fouled and needs to be flushed out. Running clean water through the OCM sensor
cell is one way it can be cleaned. Also scrubbing the sensor area with a bottle brush is
another effective method. The new MEPC 107(49) regulations have set out stringent
actions that require the OCM to be tamper proof and also the OCM needs to have an
alarm that sounds whenever the OCM is being cleaned. When the alarm goes off, the
OCM functionality will be checked by crew members.
An OCM is a small part of what is called the oil discharge monitoring and control
system. The first part is the oil content meter. The second is a flow meter which
measures the flow rate of the water at the discharge pipe. Third, is a computing unit
which calculates how much oil has actually been discharged along with the day and
time of the discharge. And lastly is the overboard valve control system which is
essentially just a valve that can stop the discharge from flowing out at the appropriate
time.
Oil content meters measure how effective the oily water separators on a ship are
functioning.] If the OCM computes that the oily discharge is above the 15 ppm standard,
the oily water separator needs to be checked by the crew.
 There are three types of oil that the oil content meter needs to check for and they
are fuel oil, diesel, and emulsions.

OWS consists of mainly three segments:

1. Separator unit

 This unit consists of catch plates which are inside a coarse separating
compartment and an oil collecting chamber.
 Here the oil having a density which is lower than that of the water, which
makes the former rise into the oil collecting compartment and the rest of the
non-flowing oil mixture settle down into fine settling compartment after
passing between the catch plates.
 After a period of time, more oil will separate and collect in the oil collecting
chamber. The oil content of water which passes through this unit is around
100 parts per million of oil.
 A control valve (pneumatic or electronic) releases the separated oil into the
designated OWS sludge tank.
 The heater may be incorporated in this unit for smooth flow and separation
of oil and water.
 A heater may be incorporated in this unit either on the middle or sometimes
in the bottom part of the unit (depending upon the area of operation and
capacity of the separator equipment) for smooth flow and separation of oil
and water.
 The first stage helps in removing some physical impurities to achieve fine
filtration in the later stage.

2. The Filter unit

 This is a separate unit whose input comes from the discharge of the first
unit.
 This unit consists of three stages – filter stage, coalescer stage and
collecting chamber.
 The impurities and particles are separated by the filter and are settled at
the bottom for removal.
 In the second stage, coalescer induces coalescence process in which oil
droplets are joined to increase the size by breaking down the surface
tension between oil droplets in the mixture.
 These large oil molecules rise above the mixture in the collecting chamber
and are removed when required.
 The output from this unit should be less than 15 ppm to fulfil legal discharge
criteria.
  If the oil content in water is more than 15 ppm then maintenance work such
as filter cleaning or renewal of filters is to be done as required.

A freshwater inlet connection is also provided to the filter unit to clean and flush the
filter. This is usually done before and after the operation of an oil separator unit.

3. Oil Content Monitor and Control Unit

 This unit functions together in two parts – monitoring and controlling.

 The ppm of oil is continuously monitored by Oil Content Monitor (OCM); if
the ppm is high it will give an alarm and feed data to the control unit.
 The control unit continuously monitors the output signal of OCM and if
alarm arises, it will not allow the oily water to go overboard by means of
operating 3-way solenoid valve.
 There are normally 3 solenoid valves commanded by the control unit.
These are located in the first unit oil collecting chamber, second unit oil
collecting chamber and one in the discharge side of the oily water separator
which is a 3-way valve.
 The 3-way valve inlet is from the OWS discharge, where one outlet is to
overboard and the second outlet is to OWS sludge tank.
 When OCM gives an alarm, 3-way valve discharges oily mixture in the
sludge tank.

A small pipe connection of fresh water can be provided to the OCM unit
for flushing. Whenever this line is in use, an alarm is sounded and recorded in
the OCM log, ensuring a record to check the discharge valve was shut during this
period.

As in most of the shipping companies, the OWS is meant to be operated

only by the chief engineer, the training levels on OWS systems for other crew
members are found to be very low. The ship operators should ensure onboard
guidance and training are included in the training schedule of the ship.