# Oil Sludge Disposal [Bachelor Thesis]



## TobyHH

Hi everybody,
I am Toby and just writing my Bachelor thesis (industrial engineering) in the marine business.

My topic is a *market analysis* regarding *OIL SLUDGE DISPOSAL*.
Unfortunately, it’s not very easy to get through this business and information are few ...
But now did I find your forum ;-) !!

My main questions are:
1.) How much does it usually (in average) *COST* to dispose oil sludge in the different ports around the world (I heard in China, India and Brazil you even *GET paid* to dispose your sludge !? Do other port pay you as well ??)

2.) What do the dispose companies *do *with the sludge ?? (do they burn it to get energy, do they separate the 3 parts oil, water and sediments, ... ??)

3.) Do ships usually are *compelled to dispose* their sludge if they enter the a port ??

4.) Do disposal companies *HAVE TO take oils sludge* OR *oily sediments* from the ships ??

I hope you can help me ... I am really desperate, since I cannot find a lot of information ...

Best wishes,
Toby

P.S. Please move this thread to the correct category, if this one is incorrect ...


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## makko

Toby,
It is my understanding that the sludge is usually sold on for burning as fuel in industrial boilers such as cement production (they also use old tyres).
It is prudent to dispose of your sludge at every opportunity as you never know when changing over tanks, whether the new fuel may result more "sludgy" than the previous one and you can quickly fill up your sludge/slop tank. I suppose that a "mandate" for compulsory sludge discharge depends on the particular port's regulations.
I am sure that someone on the site may be of more help.
Best Regards and good luck!
Dave


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## Derek Roger

A lot of vessels have their own incinerator to burn sludge and garbage . It is impractical to save garbage on a long voyage and it should not go over the side . Sludge tanks for the ships oil purifiers can be stored for pumping ashore if not incinerated on board .
On tankers the slops from tank cleaninmg are saved in the slop tank for pumping ashore .
You should differentiate between sludge ; slops and waste oil .
Waste oil ( lubricating oil for example ) can be burned when mixed with Heavy fuel oil either in the vessels main diesel engine or boilers .
Hope this helps .
Derek


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## Satanic Mechanic

A classic case of 'where there is muck there is brass'

With the introduction of tighter and tighter regulations most ports now have oil/sludge reception facilities of some sort. I have seen free facilities, we pay them and on occasion they pay us, its all a bit in its infancy still and how it will finally level out I am not sure.

We are not compelled legally to discharge sludge ashore as such but we are compelled legally not to discharge it overboard, so in a backhanded way we are indeed to compelled to discharge it. 

Personally I got rid of it at every possible opportunity as there are few things worse than being tank topped with sludge, The biggest obstacle was usually the owner not wanting to pay for its removal - not uncommon.

What they do with it - depends on the complexity of the operation, I believe most goes into industrial boilers as Makko says.

Are disposal companies compelled to take it - well no, but as it is their job it would be a bit odd for them not to take it.

Hope that helpsd a wee bit


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## Satanic Mechanic

Derek Roger said:


> A lot of vessels have their own incinerator to burn sludge and garbage . It is impractical to save garbage on a long voyage and it should not go over the side . Sludge tanks for the ships oil purifiers can be stored for pumping ashore if not incinerated on board .
> On tankers the slops from tank cleaninmg are saved in the slop tank for pumping ashore .
> You should differentiate between sludge ; slops and waste oil .
> Waste oil ( lubricating oil for example ) can be burned when mixed with Heavy fuel oil either in the vessels main diesel engine or boilers .
> Hope this helps .
> Derek


The problem with onboard incineration is that it is so inefficient! The incinerator is under constant maintenance from burning the crap, you have to boil it for ever to get rid of the water (tip here folks - get a fan fitted to the tank(Thumb)) and since you cant burn rubbish with a sludge flame it is in effect converting oil to air pollution with no work.

Garbage management is some issue - we can put a lot over board depending on area and type of garbage. The real experts on this are the cruise companies where they now have a dedicated garbage management officer such are the quantities and regulations.

Waste oil is seldom burned these days in boilers its lot of hassle and a lot worse for the boiler than you would imagine. Never ever ever in main engines - waste lube oil was a major contaminant of bunkers for a wee while - hideous engine damage.


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## John Cassels

In my days , oil sludge etc was disposed of in a very simple way !.


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## Strachan

John Cassels said:


> In my days , oil sludge etc was disposed of in a very simple way !.


In the olden days (60's) it used to go over the wall in the night-time 12-4 and an entry made in a special log book provided by the Oz govt. for the purpose. Inspectors used to come down and check the book from time to time.


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## peter3807

Used to pump it over board. If things had been different then the second would have guarded as closely as his scrap bin.


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## makko

Satanic Mechanic said:


> - waste lube oil was a major contaminant of bunkers for a wee while - hideous engine damage.


It lowers unsatisfactorily the density. If you are a brave man, you can go up to 8% on DO or IF. This runs into the argument about "bio fuels" - Bad stuff still. The worst contaminant that I have seen are styrene byproducts used as a "cutter".

I will ask if any of the chemists have an answer on Monday!

Rgds.
Dave


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## Ron Dean

In 2004 my wife & I visited the Sappoka Water Gardens in Kotka, Finland, which was a superb example of reclaimed wasteland.
We were told that the park had previously been a sludge & waste dump for shipping. Now it was a lovely park with a lake, rock features, waterfalls and the setting for lavish floral displays.
I'm not sure how much sludge or waste had been dumped there and I've no idea of the timescale between the end of the dumping & the creation of the gardens.
Is it feasable - without adversely affecting the environment and given a long enough timescale, to dump oil sludge as part of a landfill or land reclamation scheme?


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## Klaatu83

One aspect of sludge disposal is that it has to be accounted for by the ship carefully. A specific entry has to be made in the Oil Record Book of when, where and how much sludge had been transferred, and to whom. Otherwise, the ship is liable to be accused to pumping it over the side into the sea which, these days, is considered to be a serious crime. 

I recall one occasion when we pumped a quantity of sludge into a truck in Yugoslavia. The Chief Engineer had the devil's own time persuading the truck driver to supply him with a receipt. The driver didn't understand the necessity for such a do***ent, and we had a lot of trouble explaining to him that if we didn't get it then the Chief Engineer and Captain could end up in jail!


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## John Cassels

And who is going to know - or find out - how much sludge has been
ac***ulated ?.


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## chadburn

Calciner's in both the cement and paint industry used for drying will burn almost anything that the marine section want's to dispose of, this has been done for many year's. It use to be a very cheap source of fuel.


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## makko

Ron Dean said:


> We were told that the park had previously been a sludge & waste dump for shipping. Is it feasable - without adversely affecting the environment and given a long enough timescale, to dump oil sludge as part of a landfill or land reclamation scheme?


Ron,
Thanks must go to the oldest organism on earth - The humble bacteria! When we are all gone, they will continue to recycle! That is why there is so much emphasis on decontamination in the space programs.
Rgds.
Dave


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## chadburn

Unfortunatly hazardous material's that have been buried in the past can come back to haunt you as in Scotland where a former Airfield which was used for scrapping aircraft after WW2 and turned into a public area is now showing Radio active reading's from the aircraft instrument's that were buried there. In Australia they are presently burying surplus F-111 aircraft that have asbestos on board at a place called Ipswich.


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## Derek Roger

Be honest how many actually used or knew how to use the bilge oily water separator ??


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## surfaceblow

Derek Roger said:


> Be honest how many actually used or knew how to use the bilge oily water separator ??


After having sailed on a lot of ships with OWS and having to prove the operation and maintenance to Port Control for many years. The last vessel I sailed on had three of these devices onboard two for the engine room bilges and a bigger explosion proof one for the Ro/Ro Cargo Spaces. 

For best results I have used the other waste tanks and heat to decant the oil and water mixture. The oil being sent to the waste oil tank and the water drained into the OWS holding tank. In my experience if you pump directly to the OWS the entrained air in the water mixture will cause many alarms and black flushes causing more water to process. Manually keeping the heavy oil away from the OWS keeps the OWS happy. 

The best unit I used was the waste water evaporator which was a weir tank with the last section used a heating coil to evaporate the water. Unfortunately the local USCG did not like it because there might be flammable material getting into the last section and catch on fire. 

Joe


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## JoK

you can burn sludge with 25% water content if it is mixed well. You have to drive the fuel oil pressure to the burner up quite a bit to do it. I sailed on a ship with a waste oil burner on the auxiliary boiler. It was a headache when the tubes would become plugged with crap. As the engineer tasked with running the boiler, I got blamed for the plugged tubes. Ummm, no, you guys decided not to install soot blowers.

just want to add, that was (OMG) 24 years ago, so don't even know if that set up is legal anymore.


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## TobyHH

WOW - *THANK YOU* SO MUCH GUYS  !!!
You provided me with a lot of useful information !!
It is quite difficult to gain such "inside" information from people who did use the equipment themselves and know how the business is going.

Does anybody know how much it is to dispose oil sluge in average ??
Does it differ from port to port a lot & are there transparent prices or is it subject to negotiation ??

HAVE A NICE SUNDAY !!


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## Derek Roger

Each port and country has their own rates depending on the infrastucture to collect ; store and dispose of the different types of waste ; ie sludge ; oily water ; waste oil etc. 
I think your best bet would be to enquire directly to some port authorities as to their rates . A sampling of say 10 ports world wide would allow you to obtain some type of average . A good strating point for you would be to contact the port authorities in Hamburg and Bremmen .

The most difficult product to dispose of with the highest cost ( in Canada ) is belive it or not Industrial Grade paint such as found on ships .
The cost of disposal beingn as much as the original cost of the paint .


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## surfaceblow

The Society of Naval Architects and Marine Engineers (SNAME) have a working panel EC-3: Oily Waste Water and Bilge Water. The mission of the panel for the research and identify problems with shipboard oily waste management systems among other problems. 

The panel may be able to point you in the right direction or even share their research with you. 

http://www.sname.org/ec3/Home/

Joe


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## TobyHH

surfaceblow said:


> The Society of Naval Architects and Marine Engineers (SNAME) have a working panel EC-3: Oily Waste Water and Bilge Water. The mission of the panel for the research and identify problems with shipboard oily waste management systems among other problems.
> 
> The panel may be able to point you in the right direction or even share their research with you.
> 
> http://www.sname.org/ec3/Home/
> 
> Joe


Hi Joe,
THANKS, that sounds great !! - I will check this out tomorrow  !!
BR from Hamburg,
Toby


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## Satanic Mechanic

A lot of hardship can be designed out at building stage.

Firstly a bilge primary tank is great - just let everything settle for a bit - keeps your bilge holding tank very clean so the seperator doesnt have to work too hard.
I no longer try and decant from waste oil tanks except to a primary tank as to my mind it slowly and ac***ulatively contaminates your bilge hold tank

If you are incinerating sludge/waste oil - get it boiling hot and have a good vent and preferably a fan as well to get rid of the water before burning it - a. it reduces the volume to be burned and b. it makes for a better burning 'fuel'.

Stuff that is difficult to get rid of - Scavenge sludge and purifier sludge - few want it and you cant burn it - any ideas for this stuff are always welcome.


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## Duncan112

Satanic Mechanic said:


> A lot of hardship can be designed out at building stage.
> 
> Firstly a bilge primary tank is great - just let everything settle for a bit - keeps your bilge holding tank very clean so the seperator doesnt have to work too hard.
> I no longer try and decant from waste oil tanks except to a primary tank as to my mind it slowly and ac***ulatively contaminates your bilge hold tank
> 
> If you are incinerating sludge/waste oil - get it boiling hot and have a good vent and preferably a fan as well to get rid of the water before burning it - a. it reduces the volume to be burned and b. it makes for a better burning 'fuel'.
> 
> Stuff that is difficult to get rid of - Scavenge sludge and purifier sludge - few want it and you cant burn it - any ideas for this stuff are always welcome.


Best primary tanks are ones with a hopper type shape in the lower portion - means the oil/water interface is more clearly defined.

Used to burn scavenge and purifier sludge in the incinerator (Volcano brand), get it red hot with the daily garbage then inject the sludge slowly, used to be able to get rid of 2/300 lts a day. Once in a while though the sludge tank needs cleaning out - did this once and got a couple of 20 ltr drums of real heavy muck out, accepted way of disposing of this was soaking it into used rags and burning these, however one of the greasers put a whole drum in the incinerator, it was my day aboard so I completed my rounds, lit the incinerator and started on my paperwork in the control room, I was disturbed by what seemed to be a loud steam hammer, went into the engine room and the incinerator was resembling its name, bit of rebricking needed.

Worst things ever in an incinerator are the little polystyrene beads that spares come packed in, they melt, catch fire and pass through the flame trap and up the uptakes, raining fire on all around.


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## Satanic Mechanic

Duncan112 said:


> Best primary tanks are ones with a hopper type shape in the lower portion - means the oil/water interface is more clearly defined.
> 
> Used to burn scavenge and purifier sludge in the incinerator (Volcano brand), get it red hot with the daily garbage then inject the sludge slowly, used to be able to get rid of 2/300 lts a day. Once in a while though the sludge tank needs cleaning out - did this once and got a couple of 20 ltr drums of real heavy muck out, accepted way of disposing of this was soaking it into used rags and burning these, however one of the greasers put a whole drum in the incinerator, it was my day aboard so I completed my rounds, lit the incinerator and started on my paperwork in the control room, I was disturbed by what seemed to be a loud steam hammer, went into the engine room and the incinerator was resembling its name, bit of rebricking needed.
> 
> Worst things ever in an incinerator are the little polystyrene beads that spares come packed in, they melt, catch fire and pass through the flame trap and up the uptakes, raining fire on all around.


Agreed on Primary tank shape - an initial decanting stage internally helps a lot as well.

Sorry should have said Scavenge/ purifier sludge that had been dug out as opposed to the day to day stuff.

By and by, on solid waste a really serious shredder is a great thing


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## Derek Roger

Be honest how do you get rid of waste marine paint ?? Especially anti fouling .


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## funnelstays

*Sludge Disposal*

My last vessel was a year old on the Asia to South Africa and Brazil service
Bunker ports were Hong Kong and Singapore where fuel quality is extremely inconsistent.SG of RMK 700 >1 making separation in the sludge tank impossible to de water.Company policy regarding disposal is to order sludge barge where possible but they have a no pump policy to certain contractors in some South American ports due to largesse by agents and port officials regarding reciepts. Regarding fuel treatment,with RMK700 dosing and sludge cycles and conditioning water are increased, and separator efficiency oil samples are lab tested as per bunkers.Sludge amounts that have ac***ulated on board can be gleaned from bunker lab analysis,water content,cat fines which have increased rapidly as refineries try to squeeze every drop of juice out of the lemon so to speak.
Incineration is not an option due to the risks involved man hours maintenance and the policy is to not operate inside terratorial waters and
due the smoke trail invitation to Somali brigands in the Indian Ocean
The policy on the last vessel latterly was to dispose of all sludge regardless of water content ashore.Decanting the sludge tank to either the bilge tank or bilge tank is not a good idea as time and again I have had to rehabilitate the bilge water separator due to contamination of the first stage.Replacement of coalescer filtration elements are much more expensive to replace than to dispose of sludge ashore.
I am probably digressing but another problem is discolouration and micro particles in the separator sludge discharge water cycle upsetting the 15ppm sensor.To answer your question there are a number of uses for the sludge disposed of,burning in industrial boilers,pulp mills,laundries,even used to damp down coal piles in steel mills many years ago.
Another requirement by some flag states is the source of the residues,is it animal,vegetable,or mineral,as you can imagine passenger and cruise vessels have large quantities of cooking oils to dispose off which can be recycled for bio diesel.


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## smithax

The cost of sludge disposal in Ningbo, China is US$2041. That is the present rate charged. 

It is compulsory and must be done in the final Chinese port.


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## TobyHH

Hi everybody,
*THANK YOU* so much again for your replies - you helped me a lot !!

Apparently Oil Sludge Waste Disposal is still a big concern ... !!

Another 4 questions you can probably help me with:

1) How do you calculate the *oil sludge waste production*? (1-percent-rule, 2%, ...) I heard, the trend goes to 2% and more, since the fuel quality decreases constantly?!

2) Do you usually *dehydrate* the oil sludge onboard?

3) Do you use *OIL SLUDGE SEPARATORS* onboard (e.g. Alfa Laval MSPX-303 System) and how are your experiences with it ??

4) How many *days *can you operate a ship in average, until the sludge tank is full?




smithax said:


> The cost of sludge disposal in Ningbo, China is *US$2041*. That is the present rate charged.
> It is compulsory and must be done in the final Chinese port.


Hi smithax,
thank you, very interesting !! Is this rate per ton or "all inclusive" ??
I just heard that in China some ports are PAYING YOU for the oil sludge (e.g. Shanghai). - So China goes both ways !?


Have a nice weekend guys & THANK YOU !!


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## makko

Another 4 questions, another four answers!:-

1) How do you calculate the *oil sludge waste production*? (1-percent-rule, 2%, ...) I heard, the trend goes to 2% and more, since the fuel quality decreases constantly?!
The probable sludge production can be calculated from the FO analysis. As you say, maximum 2%, although this would be considered very high. However, this is not always reliable! I can recommend the ABS "Notes on Heavy Fuel Oil" which is available on the web. MAN B&W also have technical papers on fuel oil which are worth a read. Having said that, it depends where the fuel comes from. In Houston, there tend to be a lot of "waxes" in the fuel which gives an abnormally high discharge from the separator. In the middle east, there tends to be a lot of sandy solids. 

2) Do you usually *dehydrate* the oil sludge onboard?
The fuel oil is pumped from the double bottom (DB) fuel tanks to the settling tank. Separation is by decantation and the collected water is drained regularly as part of the watchkeeping routine. It is important to keep a note of the amount of water which is drained. The fuel then passes through the centrifugal separator and is discharged into the service or daily tank. The systems are duplicated. In the case of problematic fuel, you can run two separators in parallel, one discharging to the daily tank and the other discharging back into the settling tank in order to "polish" the fuel. The discharge from the separators goes to the sludge tank. Note, it is extremely important to maintain the correct handling temperature of the fuel as, if it exceeds 100°C, water will turn to steam and will NOT be separated in the centrifuge and could condense back into the fuel in the daily tank giving firing problems in the engine. Anecdotally, during rough weather, your sludge production may increase dramatically as solids which have settled to the bottom of the fuel tank will get stirred up.

3) Do you use *OIL SLUDGE SEPARATORS* onboard (e.g. Alfa Laval MSPX-303 System) and how are your experiences with it ??Yes, usually a triple installation of separators with a capacity based on the engine fuel consumption quoted in tonnes per day. Sludge is also removed from the lubricating oil for the main engine and generators. 

4) How many *days *can you operate a ship in average, until the sludge tank is full?
Calculating maximum 2% production and 52 t.p.d fuel consumption would give you a production of 1.04 tonnes per day. The typical sludge tank is around 60 to 90 tonnes capacity. you could therefore (theoretically) go 57 to 86 days until the tank is filled. However, you would never do that. You generally would get rid of the sludge at one week intervals. With reference to #2, considering a line run across the Pacific in the typhoon season of typically 7-10 days, it would be vital to discharge the sludge at the first port of call. If you have a fuel contamination problem, you will need additional tank space. In such an emergency, you could use the slops or bilge tank, or even a DB tank. They would need to be thoroughly cleaned afterwards. 

I hope that helps!
Have a nice weekend,
Regards,
Dave


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