Overview on the practical methods of ballast water treatment

Abstract

This paper showed an overview of the most used ballast water technologies on commercial ships, according to Ballast Water Management Convention adopted by the IMO, in 2004. The Ballast Water Management Convention is applied to all vessels engaged in international voyages that are required to manage their ballast water and sediments to a certain standard, according to a ship – specific ballast water management plan. The aquatic organisms known as invasive or nonindigenous species are introduced into foreign ecosystem by ballast water, causing extensive ecological and economic damages. The approach of this paper is based on the assessment of the management systems ballast water types on board, the factors that influence the treatment systems, the quality of the treatment water as well as the toxicity of the compounds discharged into the environment. Identifying the main ballast water treatment technologies on board commercial ships with their advantages and disadvantages was the main objective of this paper. Nowadays, most of the active substances used during the ballast water treatments are oxidative compounds, that inhibit the spread of invasive species. Furthermore, some treatment systems release in the environment many disinfections by - products that could affect human health and the marine environment at certain concentrations.