Within a few months trans-shipment between inland tankers and sea vessels will go a lot faster and safer thanks to a Mobile Vapour Recovery Unit (MVRU-1100) of Vlaardingen based company MariFlex.
The mobile unit that was flown in from America earlier this year has been modified and made operational in order to assist terminals and inland barges degas without polluting the atmosphere. Utilising nitrogen in the process means that tanks can be degassed and inerted during the same operation.
Reducing Harmful Emissions
By deploying the MVRU harmful emissions and vapour from sea vessels and inland barges in the Netherlands can be reduced to a level that complies fully with existing environmental regulations.
Vapour Balancing
The MVRU is capable of inerting tank atmospheres as it removes gassy vapours. Inerting barges with nitrogen makes oil transfers between ships and inland barges safer and enables petroleum vapours to be kept within the cargo tanks using a process called “Vapour Balancing”.
Extracting and Processing 1100 m3 Per Hour
MariFlex engineers have modified the installation in the past few months in order to meet Dutch emission requirements. At the moment the MVRU can process 600 cubic meters of gas an hour and extract 99.9 percent of all hydrocarbons. When the modification is done, it can extract and process its designed capacity of 1100 m3 an hour. The MVRU is expected to be deployable in September.
Refrigerated Vapour Recovery
The MVRU draws all the vapours out of the ship and pushes them through a condenser that uses non-polluting cold nitrogen to liquefy the gasses in order to capture them. VOC emissions are reduced to the required state regulation levels. Having the size and dimension of a 20 feet TEU container and weighing 5000 kilo, the unit is mobile and can be deployed quickly.
The technique of refrigerated vapour recovery has been developed by American company Purgit and improved and adapted for the Dutch market by the MariFlex Group.
Picture: The mobile MVRU-1100 of MariFlex can degas ships and cargo tanks quickly and also make them inert.
