OCEAN MINING The MV SS Nujoma entering Cape Town before the installation of the dynamic scrubber system
Ocean mining vessel SS Nujoma – the deep-water diamond exploration and sampling motor vessel (MV) – has been fitted with a dynamic scrubber to assist in the wet dust extraction on board, once the vessel goes into operation.
The dynamic scrubber was provided by mining, bulk materials handling and minerals integrated solutions provider Tenova Takraf, with the company covering the design, supply, manufacture and delivery of the system, as well as technical assistance during installation and commissioning at the quayside, and at sea, where hot commissioning will take place.
The MV SS Nujoma will be operated by Debmarine Namibia off the coast of Namibia and the West Coast of South Africa. Debmarine Namibia is a joint venture marine diamond prospecting and mining company owned equally by De Beers and the Namibian government.
De Beers Marine placed the order for the supply of the scrubber following successful completion of the initial design study phase awarded to ADP Consulting. The 4.5 m3/sec scrubber was ordered in November 2015 and will be installed by ADP Consulting on the sampling vessel, which is under construction at the Port of Cape Town, in South Africa.
As a wet dust extraction system, the Tenova dynamic scrubber will collect dust extracted from the air in a slurry, before discharging it into on-board seawater sumps. The air vented into the atmosphere will contain less than 30 mg/Nm2 (which falls within environmental regulations).
According to Tenova Takraf, wet dust collection systems are the preferred means of achieving low dust emission levels to protect both operators and machinery in the diamond-processing industry.
The MV SS Nujoma will become the sixth ship in the Debmarine Namibia fleet and will be registered at the Port of Lüderitz, in Namibia. It is named after Namibia’s founding President, Dr Sam Nujoma.
Known as Bateman Engineered Technologies prior to the acquisition of Bateman Group by Tenova in 2012, Takraf Africa supplied dynamic scrubbers, as well as other equipment, for most of De Beers Marine’s sea mining vessels. These include the deep-sea mining vessels MV Debmar Pacific, MV Debmar Atlantic and MV Peace in Africa.
Takraf Africa has an extensive reference list of more than 3 000 dust control systems installed in Southern Africa over the past 50 years.
Tenova Takraf claims its dynamic scrubbers are simple to operate and achieve low dust emissions with relatively low capital and operational costs.