On superyachts, sewage consists mostly of grey water from sinks, showers, laundry and galleys (containing soap, detergents, food waste, personal care products and microplastics) together with a small volume of blackwater and often dewatered food waste. However, there are elements within this list that many sewage treatment plants (STP) on the market cannot cope with, leaving manufacturers unwilling to accept them on the inlet of their plants – typically prohibiting oil, chemicals and dewatered food waste.

Fundamental Marine Developments has recently launched a Sequencing Batch Reactor (SBR) that eliminates this issue by treating an ‘all in’ combined wastewater flow of blackwater, accommodation, laundry and galley grey waters, including dewatered food waste. FMD says that the SBR is a game-changing evolution that brings the superyacht industry to the fore of environmentally-responsible wastewater treatment at sea.

“The current environmentally-aware climate we exist in is bringing intense scrutiny of ship discharges where immense fines are being levied on ship owners and in some cases crew are being jailed,” explains Holger Hamann, managing director at FMD. “It is only a matter of time before the superyacht industry begins to receive the same intense scrutiny and captains are potentially having to explain a PSC detention the day before an owner's trip or charter.”

The plant is tested for IMO MEPC.227(64), successfully operates 100 per cent chemical-free and has a guarantee to never suffer from foaming. This ensures an environmentally-friendly and chemical-free discharge overboard, as well as avoiding any sewage foam on the sundeck.

Other STPs available on the market employ methods such as forced aeration, membranes, flocculation and dissolved air floatation. All of these come with the necessity of chemical consumption, which is both environmentally damaging and expensive. FMD's SBR utilises none of these, has a low power consumption, and requires minimal operator attendance and maintenance. It has designed to be resistant to common occurrences such as toxic shock and rapid demand fluctuations, while even a poorly performing grease trap has no detrimental effect.

Day 2  of The Superyacht Forum, running from 18-20 November at RAI Amsterdam, will hear from a panel of experts from the field of green technology and energy efficiency to debate the topic of whether we can drive our future product to deliver zero emissions or reduce waste at all levels of the supply chain. For more information and for the remaining , click here.

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