Ballast water treatment systems in vessels
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Abstract
Ballast water refers to the sea water carried in tanks or holds of ships to improve stability, stress loads, and structural integrity when they are not fully loaded with cargo. The ballast water is reported to cause many ecological as well as public health related complications because of harmful organisms. These can infect the environment, disturb aquatic ecosystem and have harmful effects on humans. The International Maritime Organization (IMO) requires ships to be equipped with ballast water management systems that can eliminate harmful microorganisms. Ships must have systems to treat, hold and possibly re-treat ballast water discharged back into the ocean.
This thesis explores the available ballast water treatment technologies, focusing on their respective lineage and efficacy. System selection can be influenced by a variety of factors, including type of ship, ballast water volume capacity and rate flow on the largest operating conditions; power demand; energy consumption at different salinities during commissioning or operation testing before first voyage; newbuild versus retrofit onset for purpose use. The thesis also investigated the performance of two ballast treatment systems installed onboard existing ships.