Sludge Survey

Once marine fuel has been burned, it is essential to ensure that the waste slops and sludge are dealt with in accordance with regulations. SGS can support you in making sure that your waste slops and sludge are properly removed by your vessels contractors and disposed of or reused appropriately.

Slops and sludge are the oily effluents that are left over from cargo operations and the bunker fuel oil purification process. However, they can also be a combination of removed liquids after bunker and cargo tank cleaning and a mix of lubricant and greases. Ensuring that these waste products are removed properly from vessels when necessary is an important concern to marine fleet owners, managers and environmentalists alike.

Depending on their properties, there are differences in the way that slops and sludge are disposed of and their potential for reuse. Slops have a reasonably high reusable oil content and as such are usually pumped ashore for dewatering and recovery. Sludge has a much lower recoverable oil content. It is usually pumped ashore using sludge pumps into licensed disposal facilities.

SGS can monitor the disposal of slops and sludge from your vessels, checking that each part of the process is being performed in the most cost effective manner, without adulteration and with maximum recovery of useable oil.

Find out more about how SGS can help you with handling of waste slops and sludge.