MS Leonora

Scylla has been one of the leading shipping companies in the European river cruise market for many years. To ensure that existing vessels are also future-proof, it was decided to fully modernise the existing wastewater treatment systems on board the MS Leonora.

The MS Leonora sails on European inland waterways and needed to be fitted with a new generation of wastewater treatment that complies with current international regulations, without compromising on available space or the tight schedule of the docking period.

The main challenges of this retrofit were:

• Very limited available space in the existing engine room
• An extremely short docking period, meaning that engineering, production and installation had to be closely coordinated.
• Retaining as much of the existing ship’s structure as possible to minimise costs and downtime.
• Delivering a system that fully complies with current discharge requirements, including those set out in MEPC.227(64) and the applicable European inland waterway regulations.

For retrofit projects such as this, bespoke solutions are essential. No two ships are identical, and every available centimetre on board must be utilised to the full.

Working closely with Marine Service Holland, Qua-vac carried out a retrofit of the MS Leonora to the latest generation of Evac Membrane BioReactor (MBR) wastewater treatment.

An Evac MBR 30K was selected for the MS Leonora.

• Clever use of existing tanks
• A key aspect of both projects was the reuse of the existing STP tanks
• Instead of replacing them entirely, the existing tanks were fully adapted and converted so that they could form part of the new MBR system. In addition, new MBR tanks were built into the ship, enabling an optimal biological treatment process to be achieved without major hull modifications.

This approach allowed the available space to be utilised to the full and kept the impact on the ship to a minimum.

Evac MBR – Membrane BioReactor
The Evac MBR treats the following in a single integrated process:

• Black water from the toilets
• Grey water from showers, washbasins and other sanitary facilities

Through the use of membrane filtration, the wastewater is biologically treated to a very high effluent quality, without the need for additional post-treatment.

The system operates fully automatically using sensors, blowers and intelligent process control, thereby minimising the workload for the crew.

Full retrofit support
In addition to supplying the system, Qua-vac provided full project support, including:

• Project management
• Engineering
• Manufacture of the new MBR components
• Integration with the existing shipboard system
• Commissioning
• Biological start-up of the system
• Crew training
• Support during handover

Thanks to the close collaboration between Qua-vac, Marine Service Holland and Evac, the complete retrofit was successfully completed within the available timeframe.

With the successful retrofit, the MS Leonora now has a modern and future-proof wastewater treatment system.

The benefits of the new system include:

• Wastewater treatment using the latest Evac MBR technology
• High-quality effluent in compliance with current international regulations, including MEPC.227(64)
• Optimal use of the existing ship’s structure through the reuse of the original STP tanks
• A compact system with minimal impact on the available technical spaces.
• Fully automatic operation with minimal maintenance requirements.
• A sustainable solution that significantly extends the operational lifespan of both vessels.
• A retrofit successfully completed within a tight shipyard schedule

Thanks to the combined expertise of Qua-vac, Marine Service Holland and Evac, the MS Leonora is once again ready for many years of reliable and sustainable operation.

Would you like to learn more about refits? Please contact our marine specialists!