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Announcements
Posted by: anonymous on 08/12/2009 12:31 AM
Updated by: anonymous on 08/12/2009 12:31 AM
Expires: 01/01/2014 12:00 AM
Innovative Seawater Desalination Vessel offers valuable benefits to the offshore oil and gas industry
An innovative Seawater Desalination Vessel (SDV), being developed by Water Standard and designed by Babcock’s Marine Division, has valuable potential applications in the offshore oil and gas industry, in addition to providing a novel solution to increased worldwide freshwater demands.
The SDV concept is being developed by global vessel-based water treatment company Water Standard, based in Houston, Texas, to offer alternative water solutions to industrial and municipal clients, for emergency and long term application. The design integrates state-of-the-art water treatment technology and power generation systems on a mobile floating platform and can treat volumes of water from 10,000 to 200,000 cubic metres of water per day, providing an environmentally responsible, cost-effective solution to meet freshwater requirements, short or long term, with redeployment capabilities.
In addition to provision of potable water, further studies have highlighted applications in the offshore oil and gas industry, with an adaptation of the base design. These include provision of treated water for pre-injection via sulphate removal for reduced souring, low-salinity waterflood, fresh water for drill mud, potable and sanitary water for crew, and the treatment of produced water in order to meet industry standards prior to disposal or reinjection.
Working closely with Water Standard’s engineers and other specialists from water treatment technology companies, Babcock initially developed a number of vessel concepts to enable economic models and technical feasibility studies to be evaluated. Once the optimum concept design was evaluated and developed to a suitable level of maturity, Babcock was then commissioned by Water Standard to undertake the preparation of the basic design to Det Norske Veritas (DNV) classification approval level, including naval architecture, structural analysis, mechanical systems, electrical installation, and statutory submissions.
The SDV can operate in a variety of sea state and sea water quality conditions, and in any water depth. Proven reverse osmosis (RO) equipment, which has been used in marine environments, land based installations, and on military and cruise ships for years, has been adapted for use on the SDV, and is being combined with proprietary environmental intake and discharge systems to offer a customizable, reliable water supply. Reliable, environmentally compliant marine diesel generation technology is used to generate power onboard, eliminating the need for the SDV to be near or connected to a land-based power grid.
The vessel’s power requirements can be designed to meet specific needs and should additional power resources be required during peak production or drilling, the vessel can be moored near a drill site or field and provide additional power as well as water requirements.
In offshore oil and gas applications the vessel would be moored within the specific oil field utilising a mooring system such as a detachable turret system or dynamic positioning system. Treated water can be transported to the platform via transfer flex hoses or seabed pipelines. Shuttle ships or self-propelled barges could also be considered if required.
A 50,000 tonne deadweight operational tanker in good condition has been identified for conversion as the first SDV. It will accommodate a 50,000-68,000 cubic metre per day RO plant and power generation plant of sufficient capacity to power the RO plant. Particular challenges facing Babcock engineers have included the marine engineering of a process that, at the scale involved, is normally land-based and providing a maintainable plant in a marine environment within the significant space restraints involved. Additional challenges have included allowing for spares and consumables to be delivered and stored, so that the vessel can provide the necessary reliability.
Under the current design, the vessel has seven cargo holds, a conventional engine room, and accommodation for 30 personnel. The existing equipment in the engine room is to be retained for transit of the vessel between locations.
The RO plant consists of a pre-filtration system, two large pump rooms, a first pass RO system, a second pass RO system, and a final limestone remineralisation system. The plants, including all the interconnecting pipework and storage tanks, are installed in the vessel’s cargo hold spaces, with further storage and dosing skids to be installed in the vessel for all the additional chemicals required for the fresh water production system.
The new power plant required to power the RO plant is to be located in new machinery compartments sited above the vessel’s main deck. With approximately 25MW of installed power, this plant consists of seven new diesel generators, high voltage switchboards, low voltage switchboards, transformers, and all the auxiliary equipment needed to operate the power plant.
Each diesel engine exhaust is fitted with an exhaust gas boiler to recover waste heat, which is used to heat the vessel’s fuel oil. New additional fuel oil bunker tanks are fitted in one of the ship’s hold spaces, providing additional storage necessary to ensure that the vessel maintains sufficient fuel for 90 days when fully operational. The existing fire fighting, bilge and ballast systems are also to be upgraded to suit the vessel’s new role.
With the design fully developed and approved, discussions are in-hand with shipyards to undertake the conversion work and complete the first SDV.
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About Babcock International Group PLC
Babcock is a FTSE 250 company, and one of the UK’s leading engineering support services organisations with reported revenue of £1.9 billion in 2009. Among the sectors in which it operates, Babcock is a leading through-life defence specialist. Through its Marine Division it is the UK’s leading naval support business and is the largest support provider to the Royal Navy.
Within Babcock’s Marine division, its Integrated Technology business provides platform design, integration and management services and high integrity systems for the marine, oil and gas, and defence sectors worldwide. With over 1000 engineers and technicians, supported by specialist services including dimensional control, data management and project consultancy, Babcock has one of the largest pools of marine design expertise in Europe, and an impressive track record in delivering and supporting some of the most complex and demanding capital projects of recent years, from design to execution.
About Water Standard
Water Standard is a global vessel-based seawater desalination company, which provides innovative solutions for the world’s growing water needs by building and operating vessels that deliver treated water to clients onshore and to the offshore energy industry. Water Standard uses proven reverse osmosis membrane technology and proprietary water intake and concentrate discharge systems in its designs to provide a mobile, environmentally responsible, and cost-effective solution to provide water where needed and address the severe water shortage that is challenging the world.
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