Orelis, a Rhodia subsidiary and specialist in membrane filtration technologies, has just installed a compact treatment plant onboard the Queen Mary 2, the world’s largest cruise ship who set sail on maiden voyage on January 12, 2004. This plant will treat 39,000 ft3/day of wastewater and discharge clean water back into the sea all thanks to Orelis’ Pleiade® external loop membrane bioreactor technology.
The system can be compared in size to the wastewater treatment plant for a town of 8,000 inhabitants. This technology enables the ship to operate in waters protected by extremely stringent wastewater discharge regulations. Using this technological performance, the Queen Mary 2 can be called the first entirely "environmental friendly" ocean liner.
Applied to industrial effluent treatment, the Pleiade ultra-filtration process has been used successfully for more than 25 years in Japan for recycling building wastewater. This technology has now found further application in the construction of a new generation of cleaner ships, more respectful of the oceans' ecosystem.
Associated with biological treatment, Pleiade ultra-filtration membrane technology enables significantly higher performance in terms of waste treatment, compared to conventional biological treatment plants. It also ensures compliance with the most stringent environmental protection standards.
Source: Orelis SA
