DESMI Ocean Guard receives ATEX certification

AALBORG, DK – June 13^th, 2016 – DESMI Ocean Guard A/S announces that notified body DEKRA EXAM GmbH on 9^th June 2016 issued ATEX certificate for its RayClean-EX^TM ballast water treatment system. This means the system can now be installed directly in hazardous areas onboard tanker vessels.

On June 9^th 2016 DEKRA EXAM GmbH issued ATEX certificate for DESMI’s RayClean-EX^TM ballast water treatment system. The certificate covers both the RayClean^TM UV unit and the UV control panel powering the UV unit, and enables both these components to be installed in hazardous areas onboard tanker vessels like e.g. oil tankers, chemical tankers and gas carriers. The filter, valves and sensors in the RayClean^TM system can also be delivered in ATEX certified version meaning that all components of the RayClean^TM system except the main control panel can be installed directly in hazardous areas. The main control panel must be installed in a safe area like e.g. engine control room, which in general is the normal approach.

“We are of course very pleased to announce that we have received this important certification, which will open up an entirely new market segment for our ballast water treatment system”, says Rasmus Folsø, CEO of DESMI Ocean Guard. He continues: “So far we have not been able to offer our customers a certified version of our RayClean^TM system, which could be installed in hazardous areas on tankers, but now we can! While we await US Coast Guard’s final decision regarding our USCG type approval application submitted to them in March 2015, as only the second company in the world to do this, we continue to develop our RayClean^TM system in order to strengthen our market offering, and the ATEX certificate is a good example of this.”

The RayClean-EX^TM ATEX certification enables the system to be installed directly in Zone 1 hazardous area, Ex II 2G EX pxb [ia/ib] IIC T4 Gb. Technical Manager in DESMI Ocean Guard, Mark Kalhøj explains: “We have designed our ATEX certified version of RayClean^TM in order to enable installation in all typical hazardous areas found onboard normal commercial tankers and gas carriers. The general protection principle used is purge and pressurization, which means all potential ignition sources are covered by enclosures that are purged and pressurized with air in order to maintain an overpressure inside the enclosures. This way gas cannot access the enclosures and get close to potential ignition sources. The overpressure is constantly monitored and if it disappears the RayClean-EX^TM system will automatically de-energize immediately.”

The RayClean^TM Ballast Water Treatment is based on mechanical filtration and UV treatment. The system has received IMO, DNV-GL and ClassNK type approval, as well as AMS acceptance by the USCG, which is valid in all salinities ranging from freshwater to marine water. Moreover, the RayClean^TM approvals contain no limitation with regard to temperature of the water to be treated, and they cover a record setting wide UV-Transmission range, which the RayClean^TM system has been proven capable of dealing with. This means the RayClean^TM system can also treat extremely dirty and unclear water that no other UV system on the market today is approved for. In short, the approved capability of the RayClean^TM system to deal with any kind of water you can expect to encounter in normal global trade is outstanding and un-matched in the Industry.

DESMI Ocean Guard develops and markets ballast water treatment systems for the removal of living organisms from ships' ballast water. DESMI Ocean Guard head office is located in Nørresundby, Denmark and is wholly owned by DESMI A/S. DESMI A/S has more than 180 years of history and today the main products are pumps and pumping systems for marine, industry, oil spill response, defence & fuel, and utility applications. Globally DESMI has 600+ employees in 30 locations in 17 countries.

See the certification here