Skip to main content
European Commission logo
English English
CORDIS - EU research results
CORDIS

The first effective oil and water pre-separator, enabling clean water release and fuel efficiency onboard ships

Periodic Reporting for period 1 - GreenArc500 (The first effective oil and water pre-separator, enabling clean water release and fuel efficiency onboard ships)

Reporting period: 2019-05-01 to 2019-08-31

Oily water is accumulated during ship operations and is accumulated inside the ship as bilge water. As this water is highly polluted, it must be purified using special filtration systems (Oil Water Separator, OWS) prior to discharge overboard. The MARPOL 73/78 convention demands that no more than 15 ppm of oil particulates in water can be present upon discharge. Discharge of contaminated bilge causes damage to marine life and ecosystems. Operators face expensive fines or high costs and downtime to process bilge tanks onshore. OWS demand is strong, but the available systems cannot process the volumes of oil in the water they receive. GreenArc pre-separator and integrated OWS systems ensure a 95% removal of contaminants before fluids are passed through the OWS. GreenArc is a closed system delivering 100% MARPOL compliance. Our objective is to deliver our patented GreenArc500 pre-separator system and integrate it into a proprietary OWS system to keep the seas and oceans clean, eradicating the pollution from ship bilge.
GreenArc 500 prototypes have been tested on ships. Feedback has informed an optimisation strategy for the next phase of development to TRL8. A workplan has been built to deliver an integrated GreenArc500 pre-separator and OWS to market. A market analysis has demonstrated accessible market of 10,000 ships in Europe alone. Our commercial strategy will target markets in Faroe Islands, Denmark and Norway, with European and global growth through key global shipping customers. A financial evaluation of our roadmap to TRL8 and market entry shows cost requirements of €1.5m. GreenArc has considered grant funding and sales of GreenArc 1.0 systems to support this development. Revenue forecasts have demonstrated revenues of €5.45m after 3 years.
GreenArc 500-preseparator system removes 95% of the contaminants, outperforming existing systems, delivering full compliance with the <15ppm MARPOL regulations. This removes the need to illegally dump contaminated bilge fluid overboard, reducing marine ecological damage, risk of fines for operators and the need to return to shore regularly to process non-compliant bilge (with costs, fuel consumption and non-productive carbon footprint). GreenArc is simple, reliable, easy to install and has full ROI for customers of under 3 months. This accessibility and simplicity can deliver huge benefits to all maritime industry stakeholders with strong economic benefits and minimal inconvenience for customers
mynd-greeniq.jpg