Hamworthy Serck Como has secured a new order for its Multi Stage Flash (MSF) Evaporators, the Innovative Circuit Technology regularly specified by leading cruise ship owners as the means of producing fresh water from seawater to meet World Health Organization (WHO) potable water standards.

STX Europe has selected the Hamworthy MSF Evaporator for installation on board a 133,500 gt newbuild, which is due to be built at STX France in St Nazaire.

With a capacity for 3,274 passengers plus 1,600 crew, the MSF plant will be delivered in mid 2011.

Udo Attermeyer, Sales Director at Hamworthy Serck Como, said that around 130 cruise ships now feature Hamworthy’s MSF Evaporator technology, representing the company’s continuing strong performance in this sector.

The latest new build will feature two MSF 950-8 units and will be installed close to the ship’s diesel engines. Mr Attermeyer said that that the cruise ship would use the plant to generate both technical water, for use to feed boilers and in the ship’s laundry, and potable water.

Drawing on waste energy from the ship’s diesel engines, the Hamworthy ‘multi-flash’ plant solution uses positive pressure to evaporate seawater, producing a distillate meeting WHO standards for potable water that can either be discharged or used as technical water onboard ship as required. It represents the only evaporation principle where heat transfer and evaporation are strictly separated.

Using the system, seawater is first pumped through a cascade of condensers and then a heat exchanger. After heating to a specific temperature (typically 80°C), energy required for evaporation is stored in this stream of hot seawater.