Norrköping Harbour uses Surfcleaner for oil water separation during wastewater treatment and rapid oil spill response

The Port of Norrköping is one of the largest ports in Sweden. It handles a variety of goods such as break bulk, bulk, containers, liquid bulk, and a variety of project loads, outside of what is considered standard (mainly in terms of weight and complexity in lifts). Several petroleum and petrochemical companies offer storage capacity for petroleum products within the harbour. The port handles the loading and unloading of petroleum products as well as maintenance of connecting pipe systems to the storage facilities. Effective oil water separation equipment is an important consideration for the port’s wastewater treatment and oil spill response operations.

Continuous oil water separation prevents bacterial overgrowth in greywater treatment

Although the amount of oil spill within the operations inside the harbour has been greatly reduced during the last decades, there is still potential for hydrocarbons to end up in the water system if handled incorrectly. All of the greywater systems are connected and eventually end up in the oil separating facility located on the grounds. The oil separating facility consists of a building, containing two pools and a sand filter.

“The continuous collection of oil with the Surfcleaner prevents bacterial overgrowth in the pools and drastically reduces the maintenance of the sand filter – saving both manhours and preventing cost.” Johan Ekström, Terminal Manager-Energy ports.

Surfcleaner oil spill recovery equipment outperforms suction vehicles in the harbor

The Port of Norrköping also assists with oil spill response. In 2024 a medium sized towing vessel ran aground and sank in the harbour causing diesel to seep out into the ocean. Initially the owner of the boat, after securing the area around the vessel with floating barriers, tried using a suction vehicle to remove the diesel. However, the effectiveness of this method was low as the truck mostly collected water and only small amounts of oil, not solving the problem, and generating high cost for handling the 8m3 of oil-contaminated
water. Harbour personnel suggested using the Surfcleaner for oil spill clean-up. The SCO 1000 is highly mobile, weighing only 28kg.

“The SCO 1000 collected and separated the 200l of diesel in one day, solving the problem at minimal cost for the boat owner.” Johan Ekström, Terminal Manager-Energy ports.

Port of Norrköping has been using the Surfcleaner technology as part of their operation since 2021. “Our initial use of the Surfcleaner® was as a part of the wastewater cleaning system, and this is still the main task for the unit, however, due to the mobility of the unit it is a great asset to be able to utilize in oil spill response when accidents happen.”

Equipment: SCO 1000 ATEX
Separation Capacity: 1,000 l/h
Systems Installed in 2022: 1 units
Application: Oil water separation and recovery, port wastewater treatment, oil spill response