Belga Marine reaffirms its commitment to present, represent and deliver state-of-the-art technologies to its customers, while contributing positively to the environment thanks to a product that helps eliminate pollution and keep the seas and oceans clean.
THE PROJECT
2023 is off to a good start for Belga Marine that carried out its first project together with the partner company, Ocean Visuals AS, a Norwegian company that supplies sensor systems for the early detection of oil and organics in water.
In few words, Ocean Visuals’ sensors provide real-time identification of oil category and type (crude oil, hydraulic oil, etc.) on-site, without the need for samples or laboratory analysis.
As oil is intrinsically fluorescent and emits light in the blue-green spectral range when illuminated by UV light it is easily distinguished from other substances in the water. Ocean Visual’s sensors detect and differentiate between various organic matter in the sea, such as hydrocarbons, algae, CDOM, etc.
The Ocean Visuals project in Brazil that started in 2019 was interrupted due to the COVID-19 pandemic, but continued in the end of 2022, and was implemented and completed in January 2023.
“Together with the manufacturer, Belga Marine had the mission to carry out an unprecedented installation locally. Never had this type of equipment been installed in Brazil, but we are pleased that the installation was carried out successfully and that we now have a satisfied customer, and a fully operational equipment installed with the important objective to contribute to the preservation of marine environment,” says Denis Morais, General Manager of Belga Marine.
EXTENSIVE PROJECT INVOLVING MULTIPLE DEPARTMENTS
Several departments from Belga Marine and Ocean Visuals were involved in this project. Initially, the project took off with our sales department and the participation of our Business Development Director, Alexandre Carvalho, and General Manager, Denis Morais, who were directly involved in the commercial negotiation with the customer, together with the CEO from Ocean Visuals, Christian Testman.
“Ocean Visuals is pleased that our customer is up and running with a state-of-the-art oil-in-water detection system which makes it possible to detect, verify, and classify types of oil in real-time. First few months of operation have progressed as planned, with clear results from operation. The customer is now building a spectrogram image database over their known oil types, which will reside inside the SEA OWL™️ sensor. This is how they will perform real-time recognition of oil type, as samples from the sea is pattern-matched against their database. Our contact with their Remote sensing team has provided valuable feedback on our service, such as development of a new sensor cooling system for tropical operating environments. We are pleased that Belga Marine represents us locally, it has been important due to geographical distance and language” says Christian Testman.
The strategic and technical meetings with the customer were our technical specialist, Vitor Bernardo and three service engineers from Oceans Visuals, who were in Brazil for installation and completion of the service.
“Being part of the very first Brazilian installation of an innovative equipment that uses advanced laser technology for oil detection is very rewarding. It’s incredible what this system can do and so important for our industry to ensure environmental preservation,” says Vitor Bernardo, Technical Specialist III in Belga Marine.
Belga Marine’s Commercial Analyst, Eduarda Schuengue and the freight forwarder, Ultramar, were of great importance and support due to their involvement in bringing the system successfully to Brazil. The process of being compliant with documentation and Custom requirements can be tiresome, especially when it’s the first time to import a laser technology equipment to Brazil. However, they managed to import the equipment directly from Estonia to Brazil and handled delivery accordingly to the customer.
“It was a challenging experience because of the bureaucracy. To bring a new laser technology to Brazil is not an easy task, but I’m pleased with our work that ensured successful import and logistics,” says Eduarda Schuengue, Commercial Analyst at Belga Marine.
UNDERSTAND THE TECHNOLOGY BEHIND OCEAN VISUALS OWL™ LiDAR
OWL™ LiDAR sensor systems are used for real-time detection and classification of oil and organics such as algae in the sea. Sensor systems provide real-time data collection with best-in-class photonic sensors and contextualize air, surface, and subsea data to extract insights.
The OWL™ sensor suite can detect hydrocarbon molecules down to the part-per-million, PPM level. As far as the air and above the water’s surface are concerned, the AIR OWL™, ELF OWL™ and SEA OWL™ sensors can detect oil (hydrocarbon molecules) 3 meters deep in the water column.
OWL™ sensors use hyperspectral laser-induced fluorescence LiDAR lasers to excite hydrocarbon molecules that create a spectrum unique to that specific measurement sample. The sample can then be compared against a library of spectral samples of known oil type, allowing real-time classification of that particular oil type sample. OWL™ sensors operate in the invisible spectrum of ultraviolet light and are safe for the eyes to operate.
Even with more than 40 years in the Brazilian market and consolidated business know-how, being part of such an important project make us feel unique and proud to work with such efficiency and expertise. This project makes it possible for us to convey and guarantee that the customer can put their trust in us, and rest assure that we get the work done.
For more information about Ocean Visuals, please contact us at: service@belgamarine.com.br