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EFV Bilge Water Filtration System
Navy SBIR 2006.2 - Topic N06-102 MARCOR - Mr. Paul Lambert - [email protected] Opens: June 14, 2006 - Closes: July 14, 2006 N06-102 TITLE: EFV Bilge Water Filtration System TECHNOLOGY AREAS: Ground/Sea Vehicles, Human Systems ACQUISITION PROGRAM: Direct Reporting Pgm Mgr – Advanced Amphibious Assault (DRPM-AAA) ACAT-1 OBJECTIVE: To provide each EFV Operating Force, Reserve Force and General Support Force Unit with an onsite Hazardous Waste Filtration System to filter EFV bilge water and reduce the Unit’s, and ultimately the Marine Corps, hazardous waste disposal costs. DESCRIPTION: Upon the completion of water operations EFVs have water in their bilges. This water mixes with contaminates that have settled in the hull (bilge) from drips, spills, other and is considered hazardous waste and must be disposed of in accordance with Federal, State, Local and Base laws and regulations. The contaminates can consist of: diesel fuel ( JP-8), hydraulic oil, engine oil, transmission oil, Ethylene Glycol and Propylene Glycol coolant, aluminum shavings, and plastic shreds/shards. Currently, EFV bilge waste water is suctioned from the bilge and stored in drums for disposal as hazardous waste. This contaminated bilge waste water is 95 – 98% water with the remainder some type of hazardous material. Up to 300 gallons of contaminated water can be generated from a single vehicle. The current cost for disposing of EFV bilge waste water at the Amphibian Vehicle Test Branch (AVTB) for a maximum of six vehicles is $20,000.00 per month. Extrapolating current costs to the cost to process the bilge waste water for the entire EFV fleet of 1,013 vehicles is cost prohibitive and will severely impact unit operating and maintenance funds. A cost effective way to separate the contaminates found in EFV bilge water from the water itself so that only contaminates are collected and disposed of with the remaining water being cleaned to where it meets Federal, State, Local and Base requirements that allow the water to be dumped onto the ground, into the ocean or into the Base waste water system. Currently available Hazardous Waste Filtration Systems are large and are permanently ground mounted and therefore are not transportable. Maintenance on these systems, often including filter media removal and replacement, has to be performed by a manufacturer representative. Current systems also use some type of filter media (i.e. carbon) that eventually becomes a hazardous waste, of significant size, that must also be disposed of. The desired complete Hazardous Waste Filtration System needs to have a small footprint, be operable by Marines with minimal training, and require minimal preventative and corrective maintenance. Any maintenance required needs to be able to be performed by Marines. The system needs to be modularized so that it can be transported into the field by the Medium Tactical Vehicle Replacement (MTVR) or Dragon Wagon and operated while carried on those vehicles. The system must have a capability/capacity to suction waste water from the bilges of a platoon of 14 EFVs in one half hour (assume 30 gallons of waste water per vehicle = 420 gallons per platoon) and then separate the waste from the water within a maximum of one half hour more. The filtration media needs to have a long life and be regenerable, if possible. The system needs to be able to filter and process the waste water from one battalion’s worth of EFVs (207 vehicles) before the filtration media requires any type of replacement, if any is required. The filtration media needs to be such that it does not become hazardous material requiring disposal or if this is impossible, the now hazardous media needs to present a minimal footprint for storage and eventual disposal. Such a system will have application to other tactical vehicles within the Armed Services. Additionally, such a system would be applicable in the civilian sector by marinas for removing hazardous bilge water from pleasure craft. PHASE I: Design a complete Hazardous Waste Filtration System, to include all requisite components, that will reduce existing unit hazardous waste disposal costs, can be used by Marines, with a minimum of training and unit required maintenance, that can remove, store, process, and filter EFV bilge water, to a safe level such that the water discharged from the filtration unit can be passed to Base Waste Water Treatment Systems, Base Storm Drains, into rivers, the Ocean, or onto the ground (less than 10 Parts Per Million and no heavy metals) and that the recovered contaminates are contained/stored for eventual disposal. PHASE II: Develop and deliver a manufacturable prototype turnkey system and demonstrate that the system meets all requirements identified in Phase I. PHASE III: Market the system to the Marine Corps so the USMC procures one Hazardous Waste Filtration System per Company of EFVs, or minimally one system per EFV Unit. The systems will be located across the Continental United States, Hawaii, and Japan/Okinawa. PRIVATE SECTOR COMMERCIAL POTENTIAL/DUAL-USE APPLICATIONS: Such a system will have application to other tactical vehicles within the Armed Services. Additionally, such a system would be applicable in the civilian sector by marinas for removing hazardous bilge water from pleasure craft. The Private Sector will benefit by being able to reduce its Hazardous Waste disposal costs and minimize the footprint of hazardous waste storage. This would particularily applicable in remote locations or environmentally sensative locations requiring waste water to be transported long distances for disposal. KEYWORDS: Hazardous waste; waste water filtration system; carbon filters; weir tank; recycling; activated carbon systems. TPOC: Craig Harvey
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