The 

operation of the main engine, various types of auxiliary machinery, and handling of fuel oil
results into the production of sludge on board ships. This sludge is stored in various engine room
tanks and is discharged to shore facility or incinerated onboard. Also, various leakages from
seawater and freshwater pumps, leakages from coolers, etc. generates bilges.

In this article, we will see from where sludge and bilge are generated, how they are stored in
engine room tanks, what record keeping is done, and how sludge and bilges are incinerated,
evaporated, or discharged.

Sludge Production On Ship

Sludge on board ship comes from various sources like:

1. Fuel Oil Purifiers

The fuel oil purifiers have a designated discharge interval depending on the quality of fuel oil. After
every set interval the bowl of the purifier discharges sludge accumulated, into the sludge tank or
designated fuel oil purifier sludge tank. This sludge contains oily water and impurities which has
been separated from the fuel oil by the purifiers.

2. Lube Oil Purifiers

The lube oil purifiers have a designated discharge interval depending on the quality of lube oil and
the running hours of Main engine and Auxiliary generators. After every set interval the bowl of the
purifier discharges sludge accumulated, into the sludge tank or designated lube oil purifier sludge
tank. This sludge contains oily water and impurities which has been separated from the lube oil by
the purifiers.

3. Main Engine Scavenge Drains

When the main engine is running, oil residue in scavenge spaces is collected from the cylinder
lubrication being scrapped down from the liners. This oil is drained through scavenge drains of
each unit of the main engine and collected into the sludge tank or designated scavenge drain tank

4. Main engine stuffing box

When the main engine is running, oil residue is collected from the stuffing box scraping oil on the
piston rod. This oil comes from the stuffing box drains of each unit of the main engine is collected
into the sludge tank or designated Stuffing Box drain tank.

5. Save all tray drains of oil machinery

All fuel oil machinery i.e. pumps, filters, purifiers, etc. have the tray under them to collect any
leakage if occurs. The drain of the tray goes into sludge tanks.

6. Miscellaneous
They are other drains going into the sludge tank, for example, air bottle drains, fuel oil settling and
service tank drains, etc. All these drains are oily water and are collected in sludge tanks.

Sludge Tanks 
The number of sludge tanks varies from ship to ship, it depends on from which shipyard ship is
built and also depends on the machinery in the engine room. Some ships have one common
sludge tank and some have individual sludge tanks. Sludge pump is used to make internal
transfers and transfer to shore reception facility. All sludge tanks have to be in compliance with flag
state oil record book and every transfer has to be recorded in oil record book. All designated
sludge tanks and bilge tanks have to be mentioned in International Oil Pollution Prevention (IOPP)
certificate. Any transfer from or into IOPP tanks has to be recorded in Oil Record Book for the
Engine room by the Chief Engineer.

Sludge Incineration And Oily Water Evaporation 

The sludge generated have some water content in them coming from HFO & LO purifiers, from
HFO settling and service tank drains, Air bottle drains. This water can be evaporated in the waste
oil tank. Sludge is transferred from various sludge tanks into waste oil tank for incineration. Before
incineration, all the water has to be evaporated so that sludge can be burned efficiently in the
incinerator.

Sludge is transferred from HFO purifier sludge tank, LO purifier sludge tank and Oily bilge sludge
tank into the Waste oil tank and steam valves (inlet and return) are kept open for water
evaporation. The tank temperature reaches 100 degrees Celsius and water starts evaporating,
when the temperature goes above 100 degrees Celsius it indicates that the water has been
evaporated and oil has started to heat up. Now the sludge is ready for incineration. The quantity of
water evaporated has to be recorded in the oil record book.

If there is a common sludge tank, then water is allowed to settle for few days in the common
sludge tank at the bottom. After the water has been settled at the bottom, suction from the bottom
is taken and transferred to waste oil tank for water evaporation.

Before transferring any sludge into the waste oil tank, the temperature of the waste oil tank should
be less than 90 degrees Celsius to prevent boil off in the tank. Boil off will result into instant
tremendous pressure rise in the tank.
After the water has been evaporated and sludge is heated up, it is ready for incineration. For
incineration, follow these steps:

 Drain and check if any water from waste oil (sludge) in the tank before burning.
 Agitate the sludge in waste oil tank if an agitator is present. This will help in emulsifying the
oil into an even mixture for fine atomization.
 Warm up the incinerator with diesel oil. Incinerator should be operated by a qualified person
with all necessary safety precautions.
 After warming up, open the feed valve for waste oil from the waste oil tank. Ensure steam
tracing is proper for the waste oil line and strainers are not chocked. Adjust the damper and
temperature according to the manual.
 The waste oil pump will take suction from the waste oil tank. Continue burning waste oil and
maintain incinerator parameters. Depending on the capacity of the waste oil pump, compare
and check how much waste oil is burning in the incinerator. The final amount of sludge
incinerated has to be recorded in an oil record book.

The amount of sludge generated on board is with the proportion of the fuel consumption. In
general, average sludge production is considered to be 1.5% of total fuel consumption. If the
sludge generation is more than 1.5%, sludge production of the ship is high.

Engine Room Bilge Water Generation

Leakages from fresh water and sea water pumps, coolers are collected in bilge wells in the engine
room. Bilge wells are located at the forwarding of the bottom platform at the tank top port and
starboard. Other bilge wells are at the aft of engine room, recess bilge well under the flywheel,
shaft tunnel bilge well if separate space for shaft tunnel is present.

All the leakages in the engine room bottom platform are collected in these bilge wells and can be
transferred to the bilge holding tank via the oily bilge pump. The oily bilge pump may also pump
these spaces to the sludge tank (via the sludge pump bypass line) and the deck connections for
discharge to shore or barge.

Related Read: Good Bilge Management Practices 

The oily bilge pump transfers bilges to bilge holding tank via bilge primary tank. Bilge primary tank
is of smaller capacity present to separate oil from bilges. Bilge primary tank is overflowed to bilge
holding tank. Any oil layer formed on top of the bilge primary tank can be removed.

The bilge tanks in the engine room are:

Bilge Holding Tank

Bilges from bilge well are transferred here and stored to be discharged overboard via oily water
separator and PPM monitor or to be discharged ashore.

Bilge Primary Tank

Bilge is transferred here to separate oil by gravity. Any oil layer formed on the top can be removed

Bilge Evaporation Tank

Present on some ships in which bilge can be transferred and evaporated by heating.

Air cooler drain tank

All the moisture from Main Engine scavenge air coolers and generator scavenge air cooler is
drained in this tank. They might have some oil as engine room air may contain oil vapour. Hence
they are discharged overboard via PPM monitor.

Atmospheric air contains moisture and when this air is compressed in the turbocharger and then
cooled in the air cooler, the moisture condenses to form water droplets. If these water droplets
enter the cylinders with the scavenge air they can remove the oil film from the liner, resulting in
excessive cylinder liner and piston ring wear.

Additionally, removal of water droplets from the air minimises the risk of sulphuric acid formation in
the cylinders and uptakes due to the dissolving of acid products of combustion in the water
droplets. In order to prevent these problems, water is removed from the combustion air by water
separators fitted after the scavenge air coolers. The water droplets are directed from the air
coolers, via drain traps, to the air cooler drain tank.

Related Read: Understanding Hot And Cold Corrosion In Marine Engines

This tank is pumped overboard by the air cooler drain discharge pump or bilge pump, the
discharge from this pump overboard. The water flowing to the overboard discharge line passes
through an oil detector, which monitors the oil content of the water being discharged overboard. It
is also possible to pump the contents of the air cooler drain tank to the bilge holding tank using the
oily bilge pump.

All the bilge transfers, bilge discharge overboard or to shore, bilge evaporation has to be recorded
in oil record book. Whenever Oily water separator is operated, the position of the vessel at starting
and stopping has to be recorded along with time and volume of bilge discharge. The PPM monitor
will not allow discharge of bilge having more than 15ppm of oil content.

Related Read: How to Operate an Oily Water Separator (OWS) on Ship?

Cargo Hold Bildge Water Production

Cargo holds, generally of container vessels, have bilge wells located at the bottom on each side,
port, and starboard. The hold bilges are normally pumped overboard through bilge eductor
from Fire & GS pump as they contain only water. However, before pumping hold bilge wells, a
visual inspection has to be carried out of the bilge wells. If any traces of oil is found, then they have
to be pumped to the hold bilge collecting tank or other designated engine room tank, from where
they would be processed in the OWS. Before any bilges are pumped directly overboard, it must be
ensured that no local or international anti-pollution regulations will be contravened. The eductor
should only be used when at sea.

The hold bilge line additionally takes suction from bow thruster room bilge wells, pipe duct bilge
wells, chain locker bilge well, and forepeak void space. All the bilge wells valves can be operated
remotely from the ship’s office or engine control room.

Sludge and bilge management on-board are very critical and important. MARPOL rules are very
stringent and have to be followed properly to prevent pollution at sea. Any violation of MARPOL
can lead to imprisonment and huge fines.