SBIR-STTR Award

The Navy is seeking a means of removing hydrocarbons from inactive ships prior to ship dismantling or sinking as an artificial reef. Traditional means of separation of oil from aqueous solutions are unreliable in processing emulsified oils and organic chemicals. Filtration, chemical flocculation, and ceramic membranes simply transfer the contaminated waste to one medium to another. Therefore, a biomechanical separator is best suited to mechanically separate the majority of the phase separated oil from water and then treat the remaining waste with a novel biological treatment system designed to consume the remaining hydrocarbons, and convert them to harmless byproducts. The Phase I program will develop a biological/mechanical separator that will be capable of removing free-phase oil and consuming emulsified oil in wash water to concentrations of 5 ppm or lower. This proposed system will be portable and usable in confined shipboard spaces. Benefit The biomechanical OWS will reliably treat emulsified wash water, and will require minimal personnel interface. The mobile separation and cleansing equipment developed in this SBIR can be manufactured and deployed for DOD use at locations throughout the world. A system developed for commercial industry would have application in thousands of ship breaking facilities, ports, and shipyards in this country and wherever environmental conservation is desired. Keywords Hydrocarbon, Bioremediation, Oil, Water, BIO-REMEDIATION, oxidation, bioreactor, Biological

Vessels of all types have a limited useful life and must ultimately be dismantled or scuttled as artificial reefs, with wastes properly disposed. The Navy is seeking a means of removing hydrocarbons from inactive ships prior to ship dismantling or sinking as an artificial reef. The Phase I project investigated the use of a biological/mechanical system that was capable of removing free-phase oil while consuming emulsified oil from hydrocarbon-contaminated wastewater. The results of the Phase I study substantiated the practicality of a bio-mechanical oil water separator (OWS) for bioremediation of hydrocarbons and other organic contaminants on inactive DOD vessels. In Phase II, EnSolve builds on the Phase I work by designing, constructing, and testing a full-scale biomechanical OWS system as a method of cleaning ship washwater to regulatory acceptable levels. Efforts to get the system certified by the appropriate regulatory agency will be accomplished in the Phase II option.

Benefit:
The results of this study will prove the practicality of a bio-mechanical oily water separator for the bioremediation of hydrocarbons and other organic contaminants on inactive DOD vessels. If successful, the technology would yield a complete hydrocarbon removal solution for the cleanup of inactive ships. A treatment process that can reliably remove all types of hydrocarbons from the entire vessel with minimal structural dismantling required (i.e., piping, tank penetration, and hot work) would have significant competitive advantages over existing technologies. The proposed system will be transportable and re-usable, thus making it easy to move from one vessel to another. The system will be low maintenance with minimal operator interaction and low capital/operating costs, consequently saving the Navy millions of dollars in remediation and liability costs.

Keywords:
bioreactor, Oil, Bioremediation, Oxidation, separator, Hydrocarbon, inactive, Biological