| 摘要 |
SEWAGE DISPOSAL Treated sewage, e.g. digested sludge, is commonly disposed of by simple dumping in shallow inshore waters, usually from barges or by direct pumping through pipelines from onshore sites. According to the present invention, treated sewage is loaded into the tanks of a large ocean going tanker 1, transported therein to a deep water site, and then deposited directly onto the seabed at that site through piping deployed from the vessel and extending downwardly therefrom, The piping may be a flexible hose (e.g. plastics tubing in continuous or segmented form 32), or as string of steel pipes, or a combination of the two. The piping may be deployed over the side of the vessel, or preferably from a moon pool 9. The depth of the seabed for deposit might for example by one thousand or fifteen hundred metres, or considerably deeper, e.g. 7000 m; an extremely deep water it may not be necessary for the piping to extend fully to the seabed, although it is recommended that it extend at least below the depth at which the majority of fish are found (the "fish line") and below the depth where there are significant thermal changes. The invention not only provides a disposal procedure but also the disposal tanker per se, provided with a hose reel and/or pipe erection plant and/or equipment for handling piping 34,36,38 and for deploying the disposal piping 32 from the tanker to the deep seabed disposal region.
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