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OILY WATER SEPARATOR

10 Oily Water Separator

(OWS) Maintenance Tips
Every Ship Engineer Must
Know

Every engineer on ship knows the importance of oily water separator (OWS)
and must have heard stories of legal actions taken against seafarers who
tried to fiddle or bypass the automation system of the OWS.
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The most common cause of people tempering with oily water separator is
deterioration of performance of the system.

Apart from the filter getting clogged due to continuous usage, there can be
many other reasons for the lack of performance.

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A few critical points, which are often ignored and less commonly known to
engineers operating oily water separator on daily basis, are discussed in
this article to ensure efficient performance of oily water
separator (coalesce filter type) used onboard ships:

1. Oil In Bilge: The separator is suitable for separating small quantity of oil in
bilge and not the other way round. If there is a mixture consisting of small
quantity of water in oil, better not to pass it though the OWS and directly
transfer it to waste oil tank for sludge disposal to shore or for incineration.
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2. Keep Viscosity in Limit: Highly viscous oil if supplied for oily water
separation will clog the filter. It is important to keep the viscosity of the oil
within 1000 mm2/s

3. Discharge Outside Separator: Never discharge or drain water oil mixture

from the separator abruptly out of OWS as it will lead to the separated oil
adhere to coalescers, making it inoperative. Ensure to discharge the
collected separated oil outside the separator and clean the internals of the
OWS by supplying water.

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4. Install Dust Filter: While using OWS for discharging bilge mixture
containing dust and sand (a coarse grained entity), it will be difficult for the
coalescer filter to pass dust and sand due to their sizes. This will reduce the
operating hours of the filter and in-turn the efficiency of the OWS. The ideal
service life of the filter normally ranges from 1-2 year depending upon the
manufacturing process, considering daily operation of one hour. It is
advisable to install a dust filter in the inlet line of the OWS to avoid this
trouble.

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5. Exchanging Probe for Fault Finding: for In most of the 15ppm OWS
models, the oil level detecting probe and transmitting convertor in the 1st
and 2nd stage chamber are identical. In the event of trouble, exchange
these with each other, between the chambers, as this will help in finding
out the source of trouble quickly.

6. Keep Check On Heating Device: If a heating device is provided, ensure it

is ON when OWS is in operation and switched OFF before OWS is stopped. In
case when the OWS is run for a long time, keep a track on the heater for
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overheating  If the separator
of coils.  
is overheated to highextent, there
may
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be some production of inflammable gases inside.

7. Protect Internal Coating: The OWS internals are applied with tar epoxy
coating, which is inflammable. Avoid bringing fire near to it or perform
welding over the surface or body as the heat generated will damage the
coating, making OWS susceptible to corrosion

8. Check Water Level: Ensure that the separator is initially filled with sea
water before bilge mixture is supplied to it. This is to increase the life of
filters and also to maintain the operational efficiency of the separator

9. Prevent Leakage: Ensure the means provided to avoid leaking or flowing

out of water due to siphon effect. Failure to do so will allow oil to flow in the
secondary chamber highly affecting the treatment capability of the
machine and clogging the 2nd stage filters

10. Check Effluent: Frequent checks on effluent to be done to assess the

performance of the separator. If the effluent is found contaminated,
immediately stop the separator and take preventive actions

The operator of OWS should be thorough about the system, design, piping
arrangement and of course the operating procedure of oily water
separator. Out of all the machinery systems, OWS is kept at high priority due
to stringent rules and regulations attached to it for ensuring environmental
compliance. Hence it is important for the ship staff to maintain this
machine in best of its shape.

Over to you..

Do you know any OWS maintenance tips that should be added to the list?

Let’s know in the comments below.

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Anish @Anish_MI
An ardent sailor and a techie, Anish Wankhede has voyaged on a number of ships as a marine engineer
officer. He loves multitasking, networking, and troubleshooting. He is the one behind the unique creativity
and aesthetics at Marine Insight.

VIEW COMMENTS

Venry Tambelangi
October 23, 2015 at 8:51 pm

Normally we have two suctions for OWS, from Bilge Tank and from Bilge Wells.
Try to collect the bilge water from wells to bilge tank and run the OWS only if you need to pump
out from tank.
The arrangement provide low and high level switch at bilge tank so the OWS can start
automatically. We can always switch to manual operation.
The advantage of this methode is the liquid that enter to OWS is mostly water, off course you
have to check the level of oil inside the bilge tank regularly.

eko priyanto
November 2, 2015 at 9:34 am

Good

 Prem Prabhu Ch Engr.

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January 13 2016 at 5 20 pm
 January 13, 2016 at 5:20 pm

Under item4. Usually the filter life is around 4 months. If sand & gravel is used, the top layer
requires a change every 3 to 4 months. Under exceptional conditions the changes for filters and
sand could be at an interval of 6 months. This is because clean water also contains TDS that get
caught in the filtration system. Changes above this time period is an invitation for closer scutiny
by USCG, Hamburg Police etc.
Also ensure that the Oil Record Book is correctly filled& signed by the Engr incharge of the
operation, followed by C/E.

ivan ipsen
September 9, 2016 at 4:02 am

Solvents and cleaners dissolved in the bilge water may cause oil and dirt to stay mixed and not
seperate properly. If water is cloudy, ppm sensor will react. If possible test ph of water before
attempting to process. Cleaners can be neutralised easily with a small amount of chlorine or
vinegar.

MURUGADASAN M
December 10, 2018 at 10:03 pm

Dear sir if the ows is not working/malfunction what actions to take , how to handle PSC.

Anish
December 11, 2018 at 8:32 am

@Murundadasan:
1. Immediately inform the company
2. Make an entry in the ORB about the malfunction of the OWS
3. Collect bilge in Bilge tank and record all the transfer details.
4. Show all the records to PSC and the request sent to the company about the OWS.

Almeida
January 26, 2019 at 11:44 pm

Is it mandatory or not to be sailing to operate OWS? If yes, which rule says it? Thanks.

Ramdayal bhaira
June 22, 2019 at 11:00 am

Why the regulation says 15 ppm why not 20 or 30ppm, any specific reason behind this

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Anish @Anish_MI

4 WEEKS AGO

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