1.3 Incinerator
According to Annex VI of the MARPOL 1973/78 Convention for the prevention of air pollution from ships, the guidelines regarding the storage and disposal of waste material at sea need to be strictly followed. Incineration of various materials such as galley waste, food scraps, accommodation waste, linen, cardboard, oil sludge from lubricating oil, fuel oil, bilge and purifier, sewage sludge etc. is one of the most effective ways of disposal and saving storage capacity of the ship tanks and waste storage containments on ships. Moreover, the residues left from the incineration can easily be disposed of as it mainly consists of ash. For all foreign going vessels, an incinerator installed onboard the ship on or after 1 January 2000 must comply with requirements of the standard specifications for shipboard incinerators developed under resolutions MEPC.76(40) and MEPC.93(45). Considered to be an important MARPOL equipment, the incinerator needs proper knowledge and guidelines for maintenance and operations. Wrong operation or under maintenance of the incinerator may reduce the overall efficiency of the equipment and can also lead to serious accidents.
The features and benefits of a marine incinerator include:
- Reduction of the waste volume - can reduce the volume of waste by up to 90%; this reduces the amount of space that waste storage requires on board ships.
- Reduction of the environmental impact - marine incinerators reduce the environmental impact of ships by destroying harmful pollutants in waste, whilst also reducing the amount of waste that may be discharged into the ocean.
Ship incinerators typically consist of a combustion chamber, a flue gas scrubber and a stack. The combustion chamber is where the waste is burned. The flue gas scrubber removes pollutants from the flue gas before they are emitted into the atmosphere. The stack is a vertical pipe that carries the flue gas away from the ship. Ship incinerators are operated in a variety of ways. Some incinerators are manually operated, while others are automated. Manually operated incinerators require the operator to load the waste into the combustion chamber, ignite the waste and monitor the combustion process. Automated incinerators can load the incinerator, monitor the combustion process and make adjustments as needed without human intervention.