Ballast Material and Oil Pollution Prevention Management System
OwnerVirendra J. Mehtainventor
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Abstract
The invention provides for a novel apparatus and a method to effectively manage ballast material. It comprises of a plurality of Floating Ballast Containers (25) contained within a bottomless enclosure and secured on the sea faring vessel such that each floating ballast container (25) floats in seawater. The volumetric capacity of the conventional segregated ballast tanks (30) on the sea faring vessel is similar to that of the Floating Ballast Containers (25) so as to facilitate the movement of the ballast material between the conventional ballast tanks (30) and Floating Ballast Containers (25). This process eliminates the need for treatment or disposal of the ballast material in to the sea.
Claims17
A system to manage ballast material, the system comprising:
- a bottomless enclosure containing a plurality of floating ballast containers, the floating ballast containers made of a buoyant material that enables the floating ballast containers to float on water when filled with a ballast material;
- a plurality of conventional ballast tanks;
- and
- means to transfer the ballast material back and forth from the plurality of conventional ballast tanks to the plurality of floating ballast containers
A method for managing the ballast material, the method comprising:
- suspending a plurality of floating ballast containers in seawater, the floating ballast containers contained in a bottomless enclosure:
- loading the plurality of floating ballast containers with a ballast material when a sea faring vessel is loaded with cargo;
- and
- transfering the ballast material from the plurality of floating ballast containers to conventional segregated ballast containers when the cargo has been unloaded from the seafaring vessel;
The method of claim 11, wherein the plurality of floating ballast containers are designed to float in water by virtue of its own buoyancy, the floating ballast containers being filed with or without ballast material.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.