ACO Marine Resolves Challenging Wastewater Retrofit For Asterix Conversion
The interim Auxiliary Oiler Replenishment (AOR) vessel Chantier Davie shipyard and the Aecon fabrication yard are converting for the Royal Canadian Navy’s (RCN) Project Resolve will be fitted out with two Maripur wastewater treatment plants supplied by ACO Marine.
The German-headquartered manufacturer will supply a complete wastewater management package for retrofit to the converted 2010-built, 23,800dwt containership Asterix, following the inking of an agreement with UK-based system integrator Basetek.
ACO Marine’s full scope includes the supply, installation and commissioning of two MEPC 227(64)-compliant Maripur NF-150 advanced membrane bioreactor wastewater treatment plants with integrated black water vacuum collection systems. Lipator NS7 advanced grease separators for the pre-treatment of galley water and grey water transfer and aeration systems for the AOR’s collecting tanks also form part of the package. Operation and maintenance training will also be provided.
ACO Marine Managing Director Mark Beavis said: “We were selected for this high-profile project based on a combination of being able to supply a complete equipment package for the wastewater system coupled, more importantly, with design flexibility. With stringent project completion dates to work towards, it was vital that we were able to demonstrate not only system reliability but supply reliability.
“Having installed similar systems on the Dutch Navy Joint Support Ship Karel Doorman and the French/Russian navy Landing Platform Helicopter (LPH) vessels, ACO Marine was ideally positioned to offer the retrofit upgrade to bring Resolve’s current sewage treatment facilities up-to-date and to comply with the latest IMO regulation, MEPC 227(64).”
With a crew of up to 150 and an additional emergency accommodation capacity for 350, the requirement was to fit the wastewater management system into the existing space available. “Quite a challenge,” said Beavis. “To fit an advanced black and grey water treatment system capable of meeting an increased loading requirements for a total crew and hospital staff of up to 450 persons on what was once a containership made for a challenging retrofit solution.
“The Maripur NF-150s are future-proofed for compliance with MARPOL regulations and provide improved operational flexibility, reduced in-service operating costs and negate the risk of environmental fines for pollution discharge in sensitive marine environments,” he furthered.
ACO Marine’s scope of supply will be delivered to the Chantier Davie Canada shipyard in Lévis, Quebec, this October, with the converted vessel due for operational service the following summer.
The LR-classed vessel will provide the RCN with a five-year stop-gap until two newbuild Queenstown-class auxiliary ships, HMCS Queenstown and HMCS Châteauguay, enter service in 2021.
Post-conversion, the Resolve-class AOR will be equipped to perform replenishment- at-sea duties for the Canadian Task Group and play a key role in the RCN’s humanitarian assistance and disaster relive (HADR) operations.
In a statement posted on the Project Resolve website in November, Spencer Fraser, CEO of Project Resolve, said: “We are extremely proud to be able to fill the current gap and provide Canada with a strategically enabling naval asset for HADR missions. We incorporated HADR requirements into the ship’s design from the very start and we are confident that the ship and its Canadian crew will successfully meet the Government of Canada’s goals of providing effective and responsive humanitarian and disaster assistance where and when called upon.”
The converted vessel will operate under charter to RCN with a civilian crew.
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