Youtube working of oil water separator: https://youtu.

be/MG6ZbYiRPWE

Construction and Working of OWS

OWS consists of mainly three segments:

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.

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 oil separator unit.

Oil Content Monitor and Control Unit

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  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.

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What is Oil Discharge Monitoring and
Control System (ODMCS) on Ship?
Oil tankers carry different types of oil cargo in their cargo tanks and it often happens
that after discharging the oil cargo in some port, the ship sails without any cargo to
some other destination. In order to do so, it has to take ballast from the sea to get better
draught and stability.

For this reason, ballast water is taken into cargo tanks wherein generally oil cargo would
have been carried. It is to note that the ballast water carried in cargo tanks has to be
discharged out at sea before the next cargo loading. Therefore, Oil Discharge
monitoring and control system (ODMCS) is used to prevent the pollution of ocean by oil
due to the discharge from ballast and bilge spaces.

As per MARPOL 73/78 Annex I, all the oil tankers of 150 GT and above must have an
approved Oil Discharge Monitoring System. The system must have provision to work in
manual operating mode if the auto system is not working.

Main Parts of ODMCS

An ODMCS consists essentially of four systems:

1. An Oil content meter: The oil content meter is used to analyze the content of oil in
the water that is to be discharged overboard. This oil is expressed in parts per million
(PPM).

2. A flow meter: The flow rate of the oily water to be discharged is measured at the
discharge pipe.

3. A computing unit: A computing unit calculates the oil discharge in litres/nautical

miles and the total quantity, along with date and time identification.

4. An overboard valve control system: The auto control valve is installed at the
overboard so that it must close and stop the discharge when permissible limit has been
reached.

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Working

The oily mixture is pumped out to the sea through ODMCS by a pump. A sampler probe
and a flow meter sensor is connected at the discharge pipe, before the overboard valve,
to sense the oil content and the flow of mixture.

The data provided by the two sensors are fed in a control unit wherein it is analysed and
the discharge valve is controlled by the same.

If the control unit senses a rise in the ppm and flow comparing to the permissible value,
it will shut the overboard valve and open the recirculation valve which is connected
to slop tank of the ship.

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 Working of ODMCS in detail

When conditions number 4 & 5 are satisfied, ODME will open

the overboard valve to allow the disposal of oil water.
Whenever we exceed any of these two conditions, ODME will
close the overboard valve and open slop valve.

Now for doing this task, ODME need to  measure

 Instantaneous rate of discharge to ensure that it is not more

than 30 L/NM

 Total quantity discharged to ensure that it is not more than

required

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What all components make ODME

The formula for Instantaneous rate of discharge is

If ODME need to measure IRD, it need values for oil content in

PPM and Flow rate.  Speed connection is usually given either
from log or GPS.

All these values are fed to the computing unit of the ODME.
Computing unit does all the mathematical calculations to get
the required values. Most of the times you will find the
computing unit in Cargo control room.

Flow rate 
ODME computing unit gets the flow rate from flow meter. A
small sample line goes from the main line, pass through the

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flow meter and goes back to the main line. Flow meter
calculates the flow in m3/Hr and gives this value to the
computing unit through a signal cable.

Measuring PPM
Measuring cell is the component that measures the amount of
oil (in ppm) in the water. Measuring cell is located in a cabinet
called “Analysing unit”. “Analysing unit” is located in the pump
room.

The measuring principle relies upon the fact that different

liquids have different light scattering characterstics. Based on

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the light scattering pattern of oil, measuring cell determines
the oil content.

To measure PPM in a water sample, a sample from the

discharge water is passed through the measuring cell. Sample
pump draws the sample from the discharge line before the
discharge valves. This sample is sent to the measuring cell (in
analysing unit) for measuring the oil content and then sent
back into the same discharge line.

Measuring cell should always get the continuous flow of the

sample so that the most current sample is analysed.

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The analysing unit sends the data of oil content to the
computing unit in the CCR.

The computing unit calculates the IRD based upon all these
values fed to it. If the IRD is less than 30 L/NM, it gives the
command to solenoid valve assembly to open the overboard
valve and close slop recirculation valve. When the IRD becomes
more than 30 L/NM, it closes the overboard valve.

The computing unit also calculates the amount of actual oil that

has been discharged to sea. The requirement is that we cannot
discharge total oil more than 1/30000 of the total cargo

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carried. Before we start ODME, we need to calculate and feed
this maximum allowed value in the ODME.

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