Technical feasibility study of an onshore ballast water treatment system

Abstract

To fulfill the requirements of Guidelines for approval of ballast water management system (G8), a set of onshore ballast water treatment equipment utilizing micro-pore ceramic filtration (MPCF) and UV radiation (MPCF&UV) system was designed and set up with a maximum flow rate of 80 m3·h−1. Technical feasibilities of MPCF&UV system were evaluated in three areas: removal efficiencies of indicator organism and oceanic bacteria, perdurability of a ceramic filter, and application on native seawater. The results showed that no indicator organism (Dunaliella) or oceanic bacteria was detected after treatment of 20 L MPCF and UV radiation at 1.3×104 μW·s·cm−2. A 20 L ceramic filter can run continuously for 5.3 h at the flow rate of 15 m3·h−1 before its pressure drop up to 0.195 MPa. The removal percentage of total plankton amounts were 91.9% at a flow rate of 70 m3·h−1 by 80 L MPCF and UV radiation at 1.3×104 μW·s·cm−2.