How USS Great Lakes Fleet Company Improved Bilge Water Management Through Continuous Oil Removal
Cleaner Bilge Water, Lower Treatment Demands, and Improved Vessel Efficiency
Commercial shipping vessels constantly generate bilge water containing oil, lubricants, fuel residues, and other contaminants from normal engine room operations. Removing oil from these water streams is essential for maintaining environmental compliance, handling disposal costs, and managing onboard operations.
The Problem: At USS Great Lakes Fleet, oil accumulation in bilge water systems created ongoing maintenance and waste management challenges.
The Challenge: Oil Accumulation in Bilge Water Systems
The fleet needed a dependable solution that could continuously remove floating oil while operating in a demanding marine environment. Like many commercial marine operations, USS Great Lakes Fleet needed to manage oily bilge water generated from:
- Engine room operations
- Hydraulic equipment leakage
- Lubrication systems
- Fuel handling activities
- Routine vessel maintenance
These conditions created several operational challenges:
- Oil accumulating in bilge collection areas
- Increased waste handling and disposal requirements
- Additional maintenance demands on onboard personnel
- The need to minimize oily water discharge risks
- Pressure to improve environmental performance and regulatory compliance
The Solution: USS Great Lakes Fleet installed an Abanaki belt oil skimmer within its bilge water management system to continuously remove floating oil from the water surface before it could accumulate in collection areas or enter downstream treatment equipment. The reliable, simple belt-and-wiper design requires minimal operator attention.
Operational improvements and results included:
- Continuous recovery of floating oil from bilge water systems
- Reduced manual oil removal requirements
- Improved efficiency of onboard wastewater and bilge water management
- Lower oil loading on downstream treatment processes
- Reduced waste handling requirements
- Reliable operation in marine environments with fluctuating conditions
Measurable Results:
For Carl Walker, engineer and maintenance planner at USS Great Lakes Fleet, Abanaki’s Model 4 Oil Grabber Oil Skimmer served as a valuable piece of auxiliary equipment in their preventative maintenance program. His concerns surrounded their cleaning regimen’s use of compounds that dissolve lube oil and grease, and whether the fleet’s oily water separators could reduce the oil content of bilge water to a negligible amount with those compounds present. Abanaki’s Model 4 is able to greatly enhance the performance of that separator and keep their equipment running more efficiently with longer filter element life. The cost of the skimmer was quickly repaid through reduced spending on those equipment elements and less time spent giving extra attention to monitoring and reprocessing oily water.
