PANASIA became the fourth company in Korea to get U.S. type approval for ballast water management system 

14th in the world to achieve the feat… The filtration + UV system treats up to 6000㎥ per hour 

Yet another ballast water management system (BWMS) made in Korea received type approval from the U.S.

An industry source reported on the 19th that a ballast water management system called GloEn-PatrolTM, made by Busan-based marine equipment supplier PANASIA, received type approval from the U.S. Coast Guard (USCG).

PANASIA appointed DNV GL, a classification society of Norway and Germany, as an independent laboratory (IL), to prepare a U.S. type approval application. The company filed the application on March 30, and received the approval about 9 months later.

PANASIA’s GloEn-PatrolTM operates in two stages, which are filtration and UV sterilization. Using the filter, it separates all marine organisms larger than 50㎛ from the seawater intake in the ballast water tank. Then, it kills organisms smaller than 50㎛ using UV light. Each hour it can treat 50~6000㎥. PANASIA’s strength lies in its fast installation time because it manufacturers its own key parts.

Now, the number of ballast water treatment system manufacturers that received U.S. type approval increased to 14 in the world, and four in Korea. The USCG has been reviewing type approval applications from different countries after it first certified OBS from Norway’s Optimarin on December 2, 2016.

Foreign certified companies include Optimarin (Norway), TeamTec Ocean Saver (Norway), Alfa Laval (Sweden), EcoCooler (USA), Erma First(Greece), Bio UV (France), Wärtsilä Water System (Finland), Sun Rui (Qingdao Shuanghui Marine Environment Process), Headway Technology, and JFE Engineering (Japan).

The latest additions to this certified products list are Ocean Guard from Headway Technology and Ballast Ace from JFE Engineering, which received notices of approval on the 6th and 13th last month, respectively.

All of the Korean products received type approval this year. On June 5, Techcross Electroclean was first type-approved, followed by Purimar from Samsung Heavy Industries on June 15, HighBallast from Hyundai Heavy Industries on October 26, and PANASIA’s system on the 14th this month.

Seven other companies are also going through the approval process such as: NK, a Korean company, Italy’s De Nora, U.S.-based Envirocleanse, Denmark’s DESMI Ocean Guard, Finland’s Wärtsilä Water System (UV system), U.K.’s Cathelco, and Singapore’s Semb-Eco.

NK filed applications for U.S. type approval for two ozone-based systems in August and September, respectively.