In recent years we have experienced increased water content in the sludge oil, most likely because fuel oil separators are becoming more efficient. It’s not uncommon to see water content in the range of 30%–50%.
Higher water content than specified for IMO waste creates a technical challenge for most conventional incinerators. Even water content of 30% makes it a challenge to maintain a stable flame and burning process, so shipyards and shipowners sometimes choose to separate the water from the sludge oil by installing a settling tank and/or installing an extraction fan in the sludge oil tank in the belief that this is the best, most economical solution.
However, a much faster and more economical solution is available. All incinerator plant models designed by ATLAS have been built to burn sludge oil with up to 50% water without injecting any fuel oil into the process. This includes the latest model: the X10 TITAN.
This is possible because of the atomised emulsion that allows a homogeneous and stable flame, leading to zero fuel oil consumption during operation. Its performance is guaranteed by ATLAS Incinerators ApS.
Shipowners and shipyards can therefore make significant savings by eliminating the need for a settling tank, extraction fan, pumps, control system, cabling, piping, engineering design, etc. when they install an ATLAS incinerator plant.
This equipment can easily amount to as much as 15%–20% of the total cost, depending on the size of the settling tank and the distance between the settling tank and the storage tank.
Furthermore, shipowners do not need to maintain and repair motors, pumps, and valves, nor must they maintain a stock of spare parts for settling equipment, and the weight and space occupied by the settling tank can be converted into additional payload.