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Auxiliary Machinery & Shipboard Systems • Sub-topic
Sewage Treatment Plant
Sewage at sea: what sewage is, aerobic versus anaerobic breakdown, MARPOL Annex IV discharge distances, the biological treatment plant, retention and zero-discharge systems, effluent quality, sludge disposal, troubleshooting, maintenance and safety.
Sewage Treatment Plant
Sewage Treatment Plant Topics
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01
What Sewage Is — the Definition, the Daily Volumes, and Why It Must Be Treated
Define the subject precisely, and establish why a ship spends money and space on treating something that could in principle be pumped over the side.
02
Aerobic and Anaerobic Breakdown — Why the Colony Dies and How Long Recovery Takes
The one distinction on which the whole subject turns.
03
Where Sewage May Be Discharged — the 4 Mile and 12 Mile Rules
Where sewage may be discharged, in what condition, and at what distance from land.
04
The Sewage Treatment Plant — Aeration, Settling and Chlorination
The machine itself — its compartments, its flow path, its disinfection stage and its settings.
05
Retention, Holding and Zero-Discharge Systems — Holding Tanks, Vacuum Toilets and Elsan
The arrangements that keep sewage on board rather than treating it.
06
Effluent Quality — BOD, Suspended Solids and Coliform Count
The three tests that decide whether treated sewage is clean enough to discharge, what each one actually measures, and the numbers that go with them.
07
Sludge Disposal — Overboard at Sea, Sullage Tank, or Incinerator
What to do with the solids a sewage plant produces.
08
Troubleshooting the Sewage Plant — Ten Faults, Cause by Cause
A diagnostic index for the sewage plant, the holding tank arrangements and the sludge system.
09
Maintenance of the Sewage Plant — Desludging, Aeration and the Daily Checks
The routine that keeps a sewage plant alive.
10
Safety on the Sewage Plant — Gas Hazards and Enclosed Space Entry
The hazards specific to sewage treatment.