The Chinese manufacturer SunRui and classification society DNV GL celebrated last week, as Sunrui became the fourth manufacturer of ballast water treatment systems (BWTS) to obtain type approval from the U.S. Coast Guard (USCG).
Its BalClor system treats ballast water in three steps: Filtration, seawater electro-chlorination for disinfection and neutralization. The company is the first Asian manufacturer to be awarded the USCG type approval certificate for BWTS. As one of five independent laboratories accredited by USCG, DNV GL worked with SunRui on the testing of its BWTS.
Including SunRui, only four manufacturers have been awarded a USCG type approval certificate, and all of these were submitted by DNV GL. Ballast water treatment systems must pass through an extremely stringent testing regime in order to obtain USCG type approval, including function tests, environmental tests, and land-based and shipboard testing. Manufacturers must make a significant commitment to achieving approval, as the whole process can take more than two years to complete.