ACO Marine's Clarimar Selected for New Environmentally Sound EcoCoasters

Wastewater streams aboard the two state-of-the-art EcoCoasters Dutch shipyard Royal Bodewes is building for Finland’s VG-Shipping will be managed by a bespoke treatment system designed by ACO Marine.

Both 4700dwt EcoCoasters Eeva VG and Mirva VG, due to be delivered this autumn to VG-Shipping, the ship management arm of the Meriaura Group, feature MEPC.227(64)-compliant Clarimar MF-1 treatment plants.

Mark Beavis, Managing Director, ACO Marine, said: “These vessels have been designed and built to be the most environmentally-efficient coasters in their class, so we are delighted that the Clarimar MF units have also been specified amongst the array of environmentally-safe solutions designed to meet the owner’s exacting requirements.”

Sacha Uittenbogaart, Sales and Marketing Manager with Technisch Bureau Uittenbogaart, ACO Marine’s Netherlands distributor, added: “Both vessels feature systems and technologies designed to reduce substantially the environmental impact of ship operations. As such, the Clarimar MF series is the ideal wastewater solution for operations in ecologically sensitive areas, since it is proven to treat wastewater streams well below the mandatory requirements.”

Fully type-approved by Bureau Veritas to meet MEPC 227(64) and EC MED module B, the ACO Clarimar MF can reduce Coliform Bacteria to 25/100ml, TSS to <14mg/l, BOD to <3mg/l, and COD to <25mg/l.

“The unique properties of the ACO ‘bio-sword’ – a key component of the Clarimar system – allows operation with bio-mass concentrations in the activation chamber up to four times higher than those of conventional settling type sewage treatment plants,” said Beavis. “By operating at such high concentrations, a greatly reduced activation tank volume is achieved with a significant reduction in both the footprint and maintenance envelope requirement.”

The compact systems supplied to Eeva VG and Mirva VG, currently outfitting in Papenburg, Germany, each have a wet weight of just 1640kg.

Like all ACO Marine products, the Clarimar MF is manufactured entirely in the EU from high performance materials which, unlike coated black steel, is completely corrosion resistant and light weight, the system’s modular design affords simple installation and requires only one power connection. From an operational perspective it is has the lowest running costs of any sewage treatment plant on the market.

The new EcoCoasters designed by Foreship and Aker Arctic and built to BV’s CLEANSHIP notation, cause considerably less environmental impact than conventional dry cargo vessels. Hull form and machinery have been optimised for slow steaming at 9kts, with each vessel powered by a single ABC 8DZC main engine running on MGO or biofuel produced at Meriaura Group’s refinery in Uusikaupunki. Fuel consumption is almost halved compared to other dry cargo vessels of this size and class.