Page 25: of Marine News Magazine (October 2020)

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DESALINATION SYSTEMS their automation to be programmed to automatically ? ush the system with fresh water, if it goes into lay up for a period of time or will be idle for a prolonged period of time.

McGuire says that with timely, scheduled maintenance, and prompt replacement of consumable parts on the plant such as seals, wearing rings, membranes, and any other necessary parts, the system can las the life of the ship. “You could feasibly build a ship tomorrow and with proper mainte- nance, proper back? ow, proper ? ush- ing, and periodic replacement of cer- tain parts, it should last.

“We have systems that are still run- ning from the ? rst systems that we ever put out there,” he says, “It’s a matter of replacing the consumables, keeping up on the maintenance of the system. So, you can keep this thing going for as long as you want to keep replacing parts.”

Keeping desalination plants is a critical link in shipboard opera- tion. The availability of fresh water for the crew is a determinant factor in the vessel maintaining its mis- sion and staying on schedule. This becomes very important if a vessel is unable to take on potable water along its voyage or must operate for long stretches of time. Desalination plants, operating properly, with the right maintenance and equipment, are crucial to smooth and ef? cient marine engineering. “Water is becoming somewhat of a commodity,” says Lum. “In the cruise segment, we see that the passengers are utilizing more freshwater every year, but there is a lot of waste as well. Black and grey water process should be one of the topics shortly as a lot could be re-utilized as technical water.” 25 www.marinelink.com MN