Three Freshwater Generators (MSF740-6), ordered by Fincantieri for the latest ship in Carnival Cruise Line’s “Dream” class, offers owners an energy efficient solution to drive auxiliary equipment.
In March, the International Maritime Organization’s Marine Environment Protection Committee prepared a draft text on mandatory requirements for an Energy Efficiency Design Index (EEDI) for new vessels. Although considerable work remains before a final text is agreed, the EEDI is being developed to stimulate innovation and technical development of all the elements influencing the energy efficiency of a ship.
Employed to produce fresh water from sea water by drawing on waste energy from the ship’s diesel engines, Hamworthy ‘multi-flash’ plants use positive pressure to evaporate seawater. The process produces a distillate that can be discharged, leaving potable water that meets World Health Organization standards, or technical water for use onboard.
Proven for decades, the multi-stage flash (MSF) process is the only evaporation principle where heat transfer and evaporation are strictly separated. Seawater is first pumped through a cascade of condensers and then a heat exchanger. After heating to a specific temperature (typically 80°C), energy required for evaporation is stored in this stream of hot seawater.
The new order follows the specification of similar equipment for the 130,000 dwt sister ships Carnival Dream and Carnival Magic. The delivery of the latest plants will take place before the end of November 2010, with the vessel due into service in the spring of 2012.
“We continue to see a demand to harness energy which would otherwise be wasted on board,” said Udo Attermeyer, Hamworthy Serck Como sales director. “Multi-stage flash evaporation plants that generate potable water are a prime example of such solutions. The flash principle is also a reliable evaporation principle, and has the lowest risk of scaling. We have now received over 40 orders from Fincantieri for our multi-stage flash evaporators.”
Additionally, Hamworthy Serck Como has secured an order from BIS Rohrleitungsbau GmbH, covering the supply of an Air Cooled Condenser to operate in conjunction with the Buchenhofen power station, which burns biomass. The equipment will be assembled in the wastewater treatment plant in Wuppertal, Germany, and will be used to condense steam generated by the plant’s turbines, with the condenser to be mounted on the roof of a newly built turbine hall. The Air Cooled Condenser will condense 4 t/h of turbine exhaust steam.
“Strict restrictions on the use of cooling water and its limited availability at many locations has resulted in a growing demand for dry air cooler systems in the industrial setting” said Mr Attermeyer.
