Innovative Gas Turbine Engine Propulsion

In a ship's bilge, water mixes with oils, cleaners, and other liquids and dissolved solids to form a complex wastewater solution harmful to the marine environment. Naval vessels carry onboard oil/water separators (OWS) to prevent discharging oily wastesoverboard. OWS systems can remove oil from water; however, serious problems arise when other contaminants, like detergents, are present. These ingredients cause oily water to form an emulsion, which fouls the OWS and prevents proper operation. Thus, thenavy is seeking improved methods of separating oils from bilge water and preventing discharges of oily wastes. Acceptable techniques must be compact, automated, and effective on a wide range of waste compositions.Electrocoagulation (EC) is a method of electrochemically inducing coagulation of dissolved ions, oils, or suspended solids to create a readily separable phase. EC effectiveness has been demonstrated on heavy metals, fats, oils & grease, coal fires, andbacteria. However, use of the EC process has been limited due to its inability to effectively compete with land-intensive, chemical coagulation processes. ADA proposes to develop and demonstrate a shipboard EC system that will take advantage of key ECattributes - compact size and broad applicability - to enable this technology to be used for marine applications.The EC process can remove oils and dissolved metal ions from diverse wastewaters and can function as either a primary treatment step or as a pretreatment to other processes. For shipboard operation, EC attributes like compact size, diverse applicability,and minimal reagent usage become key advantages. A successful project will demonstrate EC's ability to treat oily wastewater to the targeted 15 ppm oil concentration regardless of the presence of detergents, solvents, and other contaminants. ADA'sexisting manufacturing base will be applied to provide these units for marine use.