Ship Ballast Water Research Articles

Assessment of the Environmental Safety of the Ship Ballast Water Treated by Ozone

The aspects of purification of discharged ballast water from non-indigenous species of microorganisms in ballast water by the ballast water management systems (BWMS) installed on ships are considered. As a method of water treatment, the technology chosen is to influence the microorganisms with gaseous ozone introduced into the flow of ballast water when it is received onto the ship. A design diagram for a prototype BWMS unit for treating the ballast water during intake and deballasting has been developed. The results of studies of the prototype on the inactivation of microorganisms in water of various salinities (0, 18 and 36‰) are presented and its effectiveness is shown. Biotesting methods were used to assess the toxicity of ozone-treated waters. Using organisms of three trophic levels, it was shown that water neutralized using this technology is not toxic and can be discharged into a receiving reservoir.

Early warning system on harmful aquatic organisms at a regional sea scale: Components and mechanisms

The introduction of harmful aquatic organisms and pathogens (HAOP) via the ballast water of ships can endanger human health, the environment, economic resource-related systems, as well as impair biological diversity. Early warning systems (EWS) are highly effective instruments for mitigating risks and enhancing readiness in the face of potential disasters, including those resulting from HAOP. The establishment of a regional EWS for the identification and notification of harmful organisms is a complex marine policy process involving communication with stakeholders, technical development, engagement of regional knowledge, and, ultimately, harmonization between key authorities and Participating States. The purpose of EWS is to promptly communicate the findings of HAOP to the appropriate stakeholders, such as government agencies and commercial companies. The paper elucidates in detail the criteria and procedure for developing a regionally standardized EWS, including its mechanism, the technical information platform that is required, and the obligations of EWS data providers. It also discusses the decision-making process for issuing alerts and identifies the intended recipients of the warning signals. The system has been operational in the Baltic Sea region for over two years, and the knowledge and insights gathered during its development may prove beneficial in other areas as well.

Ballast water transport of alien phytoplankton species to the brazilian amazon coast

The aim of this study was to investigate the presence of alien phytoplankton species transported through ballast water of ships that docked on the Amazon coast. Phytoplankton samples were collected from 25 ships between 2012 and 2014, revealing 215 identified species, mostly comprising oceanic planktonic marine species. However, several coastal and freshwater species not yet documented on the Maranhão coast were also observed. The identification of several coastal and freshwater species not yet recorded for Amazonian environments in the ballast water of the Ponta da Madeira Maritime Terminal (TMPM), as well as toxic microalgae genera such as the dinoflagellates Alexandrium and Gymnodinium and of some diatom species from the genus Pseudo-nitzchia, raises concerns regarding the possibility of introducing species. This indicates that ballast water can be responsible for the introduction of alien species in Amazonian aquatic environments, thereby highlighting the TMPM as a critical hotspot in the Amazonian region.

Legal challenges of regulating cross-border nuclear pollution from ship ballast water under the background of fukushima wastewater release and China’s response

The Japanese government has initiated plans to release water contaminated The international community has yet to fully recognize the accelerated spread of nuclear-contaminated water through ship ballast water along the Japanese route. This increases the risk of nuclear exposure for crew members and poses ecological and environmental contamination risks to port waters, inland seas, and rivers. The lack of international attention to the marine nuclear safety crisis caused by nuclear pollution from ballast water, along with the absence of corresponding legal prevention and control mechanisms and technical safeguards, remains a critical issue. From the perspective of international law, preventing the spread of Fukushima wastewater through ship ballast water faces numerous legal challenges, including disputes over the applicability of conventions, the jurisdiction of international organizations, and mechanisms for cross-border accountability for marine nuclear pollution. As a major shipping nation adjacent to Japan, China faces significant risks of nuclear pollution from ballast water along the Japanese route. To counter such risks, it is recommended to propose measures through the International Maritime Organization to elevate international attention. Moreover, refining ballast water regulatory frameworks, establishing monitoring and warning mechanisms specific to nuclear pollution from ballast water, improving the technical capabilities of ballast water treatment systems, and promoting international cooperation in monitoring marine environments and preventing pollution are also advisable.

Diverse bacterial hosts and potential risk of antibiotic resistomes in ship ballast water revealed by metagenomic binning

Ship ballast water promoting the long-range migration of antibiotic resistance genes (ARGs) has raised a great concern. This study attempted to reveal ARGs profile in ballast water and decipher their hosts and potential risk using metagenomic approaches. In total, 710 subtypes across 26 ARG types were identified among the ballast water samples from 13 ships of 11 countries and regions, and multidrug resistance genes were the most dominant ARGs. The composition of ARGs were obviously different across samples, and only 5% of the ARG subtypes were shared by all samples. Procrustes analysis showed the bacterial community contributed more than the mobile genetic elements (MGEs) in shaping the antibiotic resistome. Further, 79 metagenome-assembled genomes (46 genera belong to four phyla) were identified as ARG hosts, with predominantly affiliated with the Proteobacteria. Notably, potential human pathogens (Alcaligenes, Mycolicibacterium, Rhodococcus and Pseudomonas) were also recognized as the ARG hosts. Above 30% of the ARGs hosts contained the MGEs simultaneously, supporting a pronounced horizontal gene transfer capability. A total of 43 subtypes (six percent of overall ARGs) of ARGs were assessed with high-risk, of which 23 subtypes belonged to risk Rank I (including rsmA, ugd, etc.) and 20 subtypes to the risk Rank II (including aac(6)-I, sul1, etc.). In addition, antibiotic resistance risk index indicated the risk of ARGs in ballast water from choke points of maritime trade routes was significantly higher than that from other regions. Overall, this study offers insights for risk evaluation and management of antibiotic resistance in ballast water.

Ship Ballast Water System Fault Diagnosis Method Based on Multi-Feature Fusion Graph Convolution

To tackle the issues of limited fault data, inadequate information availability, and subpar fault diagnosis within the realm of ship ballast water system condition monitoring, this paper presents a novel fault diagnosis methodology known as the Probabilistic Similarity and Linear Similarity-based Graph Convolutional Neural Network (PCGCN) model. PCGCN initially converts the ship’s ballast water system dataset into two distinct graph structures: a probabilistic topology graph and a correlation topology graph. It delves into data similarity by employing T-SNE for probabilistic similarity and Pearson’s correlation coefficient for linear similarity to establish the inter-sample neighbor relationships. Subsequently, an early fusion of these two graph structures is conducted to extract more profound multi-scale feature information. Following this step, the graph convolutional neural network (GCN) is introduced to amalgamate the feature information from neighboring nodes in addition to its inherent features. This is aimed at enhancing the available information for the classification task and addressing the issues of limited fault data and inadequate label information. In conclusion, we employ a simulated ship fault dataset for testing experiments, and the PCGCN model demonstrates superior classification accuracy, reaching 97.49%, outperforming traditional diagnostic methods. These experimental outcomes underscore the applicability of the model introduced in this study to the realm of ship ballast water system fault diagnosis, even under challenging conditions characterized by limited sample sizes and insufficient labeling information.

Legislation Issues on the Invasion of Alien Species Through Ballast Water in Ships

The issue of alien species invasion caused by ballast water from ships has been recognized by the Global Environmental Fund as one of the four major threats to the oceans. As a major maritime nation, China is also confronted with the same problem. This paper outlines the hazards of alien species invasion through ballast water and analyzes the current legislation status and shortcomings of ballast water in Chinese ships. It proposes legislative strategies, including clearly defining legislative purposes, enacting specialized laws, and establishing a coordinated regulatory system, aiming to provide assistance to legislation and practices in China regarding the invasion of alien species through ballast water.

Experimental Study on Microbial Activity of Ship Ballast Water and Corrosion of Ballast Tank by Inert Flue Gas Deoxidation

Experimental Study on Microbial Activity of Ship Ballast Water and Corrosion of Ballast Tank by Inert Flue Gas Deoxidation

Invasive Round goby Neogobius melanostomus distribution, relative abundance, and establishment in pools of the Illinois Waterway following 30 years of invasion

Round goby Neogobius melanostomus – a small, benthic fish native to Eurasia – was first introduced to North America in the 1980s through ballast water of cargo ships. In 1990, the Round goby was first discovered in the Laurentian Great Lakes Basin and rapidly spread through all Great Lakes from 1993 to 1998. The Round goby is an aggressive, prolific, and efficient egg predator that subsequently displaced native fishes from their preferred habitats and resources in the Great Lakes, where they are well established and abundant. From Lake Michigan, Round goby moved south into the Chicago Area Waterway System in 1993 and slowly progressed down the Illinois Waterway to the Mississippi River from 2004 to 2019, where less is known about their abundance, establishment, and impact. The goal of this study was to gain a comprehensive understanding of the first large river invasion by Round goby in the Mississippi River Basin by leveraging Round goby capture data from 2019 to 2022 on all pools of the Illinois Waterway. We describe their current distribution, relative abundance (i.e., catch-per-unit-effort), frequency of occurrence, and establishment (i.e., presence of young-of-year and adults) status throughout the Illinois Waterway. Results show that catch-per-unit-effort, frequency of occurrence, and the proportion of sites where multiple life stages are present are considerably higher in the upstream pools relative to more downstream pools of the Illinois Waterway. Our data support that the Round goby has established self-sustaining populations in the Chicago Area Waterway System, the upper Illinois River (i.e. Dresden Island Pool downstream through Starved Rock Pool), and a portion of the lower Illinois River (i.e. Peoria Pool downstream through Alton Pool) of the Illinois Waterway. In the lower Illinois River, Round gobies appear to only be established in Peoria Pool, with captures occurring infrequently in La Grange Pool, and no Round gobies being captured in Alton Pool.

Inactivation effect and kinetic analysis of multi-band ultraviolet LED combined with Ag/N modified magnetic TiO2 on microorganisms in ballast water

The invasion of harmful aquatic organisms from ship ballast water is a serious threat to the marine ecosystem. However, the existing treatment technology has the defects of high energy consumption, secondary pollution and easy revival of organisms, etc. How to inactivate the microorganisms in ballast water efficiently is always a difficult challenge. In this study, the inactivation of Karenia mikimotoi and Escherichia coli under UVA/UVCLED photocatalytic system (UVA/UVCLED + Ag/N-Fe3O4-SiO2-TiO2) was investigated using Ag-modified and N-modified magnetic TiO2 nanomaterials. The results showed that the ability of 1.5 % Ag with 3 % N dual-modified TiO2 to enhance the system's biologically logarithmic inactivation rate was 4–5 times higher than that of conventional unmodified TiO2. The Ag/N-modified magnetic TiO2 had the best photocatalytic activity at a dosage of 500 mg/L. After 6 cycles of use, the inactivation efficiency in combination with UVA/UVCLED only decreased by 8.76 % compared with the initial use, and the recycling rate was still up to 95.75 %. Meanwhile, the scanning electron microscope showed that the photocatalyst itself only had some minor changes after 6 cycles, which confirmed the fact that the photocatalytic removal rate (higher than 91.24 %) could still be maintained at a high level. The UVA/UVCLED photocatalytic system significantly inhibited the scavenging ability of superoxide dismutase (SOD) on reactive oxygen species (ROS), enhanced the toxic effect of ROS on cells, and ultimately accelerated the process of apoptosis and inhibited biological resurrection. In addition, this study verified the inactivation kinetics of the target microorganisms using Chick-Watson, Hom and Biphasic models, and found that all individuals in the same population differed in their tolerance to UV radiation, and some of them absorbed more than a threshold dose of UV radiation before showing inactivation responses. The Biphasic model (R2: 0.99571–0.99926) can better simulate the nonlinear changes exhibited during the inactivation process and is more applicable to the actual disinfection situation of UVA/UVCLED photocatalytic systems. The UVA/UVCLED + Ag/N-Fe3O4-SiO2-TiO2 photocatalytic technology developed in this study, as a novel oxidation process, reduces energy consumption while effectively inhibiting the reanimation of organisms, and exhibits a strong potential for application in the fields of restoring the environment of water bodies and blocking the spread of pathogens.

Fault Diagnosis of Ship Ballast Water System Based on Support Vector Machine Optimized by Improved Sparrow Search Algorithm

Fault Diagnosis of Ship Ballast Water System Based on Support Vector Machine Optimized by Improved Sparrow Search Algorithm

Чужеродные моллюски в прибрежной части дагестанского района Каспийского моря

The species Corbicula fluminea and C. fluminalis (O.F. Müller, 1774), alien to the ecosystems of the Russian sector of the Middle Caspian, penetrated into the estuaries, forming new ecotones. Mollusks of the genus Corbicula are included in one hundred of the most actively spreading universes around the world. In 2018-2022, live individuals of the bivalve mollusk C. fluminalis (O.F. Müller, 1774) were found in the waters of the northern part of the Agrakhan Bay, in the area of the Chased Gate, Kubyakinsky Bank, Kuznechonok. For the first time, finds of C. fluminalis and C. fluminea specimens of different ages were recorded in the Prisulak canal and the Yuzbash-Sulak reservoir. There is an expansion of the habitat of corbicules in the study area. Possible ways of invasion are assumed: introduction of corbicule larvae into the Caspian Sea basin with ballast waters of ships plying through the Volga-Don Canal; introduction of Asian fish species into the inland waters of Dagestan; transfer by waterfowl. High adaptive abilities and different breeding strategies of Corbicula mollusks increase the possibility of successful naturalization in estuarine and freshwater ecosystems of the Dagestan region of the Caspian Sea, as well as in desalinated areas near the mouths of the rivers of the Northern Caspian and the northern part of the Middle Caspian.

Diversity variation of zooplankton and phytoplankton communities in ship ballast water during the maiden voyage

The transfer of ships' ballast water poses a risk of biological invasion to the aquatic ecosystem. Although the ecological risks posed by ships' ballast water have been reduced by the installation of type-approved Ballast Water Management System (BWMS) equipment, some treated ballast water still does not meet the requirements of the D-2 standard. Here, experiments were conducted to investigate the trends of phytoplankton and zooplankton in ship ballast water during different ship’s maiden voyages. The results showed that there are some differences in the trends of the abundance of zooplankton and phytoplankton in the ballast water samples of two ships, i.e., the “Zhang Jian” and the “Song Hang”. The abundance of zooplankton in the ballast water samples of the “Zhang Jian” showed an increasing and then decreasing trend. An explosion of phytoplankton, predominantly Chlorophyta and Cyanophyta, was observed in the ballast water samples of the “Zhang Jian” at the end of the voyage. The abundance of phytoplankton and zooplankton in the ballast water samples of the “Song Hang” showed a decreasing trend. The study aims to clarify the trends and composition characteristics of plankton in ballast water in different ships to promote the effective management of ballast water and protect the ecological environment of port waters.

Study on Ship Ballast Water Treatment Methods

With the rise of the world's maritime industry, the ecological and environmental concerns produced by ballast water discharges from ships are growing more and more significant, and can be hazardous to marine ecosystems, the marine economy, and human health. The ballast water management (BWM) convention from the International Maritime Organization (IMO) sets the rules for ballast water discharge and the two methods of ballast water exchange and ballast water treatment. Common types of ballast water management technology are introduced in this paper and the pros and cons of specific types of technology are explained. The research of this paper demonstrates that it is difficult for a single ballast water treatment system to achieve the D-2 discharge standard established in the BWM. More and more countries are increasingly supporting more efficient and environmentally friendly ballast water combination treatment systems. This paper may offer a reference for the development of ballast water treatment technology.

Estimation of the introduction risk of non-indigenous species through ship ballast water in the Port of Douala (Cameroon)

The transport of non-indigenous species in ship's ballast water represents a threat to marine biodiversity. This study is the first on marine bioinvasion in Sub-Saharan Africa. The Port of Douala (PoD), located in the Gulf of Guinea, is experiencing increasing maritime traffic, hence the importance of preventing biological invasions. PoD received ballast water from 41 ports and 20 ecoregions during the study period (2018–2021). We used a biological invasion model and showed that ships from the ports of Antwerp, Durban, Dar es Salaam, Pointe-Noire (Southern Gulf of Guinea) and Dakar (Sahelian Upwelling), with their associated ecoregions present a major invasion risk. Treating ballast water from these ships to IMO D-2 standards could reduce their probability of biological invasion by 97.18, 98.43, 98.80, 98.77 and 98.84 %, respectively. Climate change may also mitigate the risk of biological invasion, particularly for ships in the North Sea ecoregion from the port of Antwerp.

Construction of oxygen vacancy-rich MoO3-x and NiFe-LDH p-n heterojunction for enhanced carrier separation to promote photoelectrochemical oxidation of pollutants and hydrogen precipitation

In this work, a novel portable photoanode consisting of MoO3-x/NiFe@NF with excellent photoelectrochemical (PEC) performance and multifunctional applications was synthesized using a simple hydrothermal and electrodeposition method. In a visible-light-driven PEC system, the photoanode was able to simultaneously promote the degradation of tetracycline and the generation of hydrogen. The degradation efficiency of MoO3-x/NiFe@NF for TC (20 mg/L) was up to 99.9 %. The production of hydrogen (H2) at the cathode could be at most 32.07 μmol cm−2 within 100 min. In addition, the MoO3-x/NiFe@NF photoanode exhibited a positive bactericidal effect against Gram-negative bacteria (E. coli) which could be completely removed within 20 min under the synergistic effect of visible light and voltage. The improved photoelectrocatalytic efficiency is attributed to the built-in electric field resulting from the formation of a p-n heterojunction between MoO3-x and NiFe-LDH. Under the excitation of visible light, the built-in electric field is able to promote the separation and transmission of the photogenerated carriers. A possible mechanism of MoO3-x/NiFe@NF p-n heterojunction was proposed and discussed based on DRS, Mott-Schottky, UPS characterization and DFT theoretical calculations. Furthermore, the electrode's reusability and stability were evaluated through cycling experiments. This work provides a novel p-n heterojunction synthesis method with significant potential for wastewater treatment and future applications in ship ballast water treatment.

Pseudechidna brummeri: An unexpected discovery in the North-East Atlantic raises concerns

Global changes are currently underway, resulting in the discovery and introduction of new species in unexpected locations. One notable case involves the Indo-Pacific species Pseudechidna brummeri, which was observed and captured on film during a nocturnal dive in Portugal.This situation raises the question: How did this species come to inhabit this area? Two primary explanations appear plausible:a)The species may have been introduced through ship ballast water, a common pathway for the unintentional transport of aquatic organisms. Given the proximity of a large port, this possibility gains significance.b)Alternatively, the species could have originated from a home aquarium, a factor that remains poorly understood. The potential for species to escape or be released from aquariums into natural ecosystems is an area that requires further investigation.Another pertinent question to consider is whether there is only one individual of this species or if there are more individuals present?

Accurate detection of microalgae in ship ballast water: An innovative computer vision strategy

Microalgae play a crucial role in marine ecological preservation, especially in the management of ship ballast water, where accurate microalgae detection is essential for preventing biological invasions. However, when extracting and observing microalgae from ship ballast water samples, the intricate water quality background and cell adhesion phenomena present substantial interferences for precise microalgae detection, posing significant challenges for existing microalgae detection methods. To address these issues, this paper proposes an innovative microalgae detection method based on efficient omnidimensional dynamic convolution (EOD) and adhesion loss. The novelty of our study lies in the unique loss strategy for detecting adhesive microalgae cells for the first time and its combination with EOD to address the challenges of microalgae detection in complex environments. First, a large number of microalgae images are generated using an enhanced StyleGAN3, supplementing the dataset in complex scenarios to improve the model's robustness. Second, the proposed EOD is applied to mitigate the interference from the complex background and enhance the capability of microalgae feature extraction. Finally, our newly designed adhesion loss strategy imposes penalties on adhered cells based on intersection over union (IOU) and Gaussian distance, effectively tackling the cell adhesion issue. The experimental results indicate that this method achieves a mAP@[0.5:0.95] of 82.1% for microalgae detection in complex environments, meeting real-time microalgae detection requirements. This study provides an innovative perspective for marine ecological preservation, while its highly accurate and real-time microalgae detection method also pioneers new possibilities in microalgae detection research.

Penerapan Terhadap Kepatuhan Konvensi Ballast Water Management Dari Awak Kapal Niaga Di Indonesia

The International Maritime Organization (IMO) through the Environmental Protection Committee (MEPC/Marine Environment Protection Committee) since 2004 has established the international Convention on the Control and Management of Ship's Ballast Water and Sediments (BWM 2004), which seeks to protect marine waters from the impact of water discharge. commercial ship ballast The aim of this research is to determine the extent of implementation of the 2004 BWM Convention in Indonesia through questionnaires and interviews given to seafarer respondents in Indonesia. The compliance of commercial ship crews with PTES shows that the ship crews have not implemented the Ballast Water Management Convention, namely exchanging ship ballast water at sea according to standard D 1. The results of a questionnaire conducted on Indonesian merchant ship crews consisting of student crew members and student officers show that water exchange Ballast in the middle of the sea by merchant ships is only worth 14.5%. Commercial ships that have documents related to Ballast Water Management are also obtained below the 24% figure. PTES managers should manage ballast water at ports as the cheapest and most efficient solution compared to managing ballast water by commercial ships.

Inactivation of Heterosigma akashiwo under UV/peroxydisulfate advanced disinfection system in marine waters

Heterosigma akashiwo (H. akashiwo) is recognized as a harmful algal bloom (HABs) species with a global distribution, capable of posing significant threats to marine ecosystems, particularly when spread through ship ballast water. This investigation focused on elucidating the inactivation kinetics and underlying mechanism of H. akashiwo through a combined ultraviolet irradiation and peroxydisulfate (UV/PDS) process. The results demonstrated a strong synergistic effect within the UV/PDS system, resulting in an inactivation of 0.78-ln and 2.67-ln within 40 min of UV and UV/PDS processes. The principal agents accountable for inactivation were identified as sulfate radicals (•SO4−) and hydroxyl radical (•OH), which exhibited a synergistic effect in the UV/PDS process. Furthermore, the study observed a negatively impact of seawater pH and salinity on the efficiency of inactivation. UV/PDS caused oxidative stress on algal cells, initially involving the participation of antioxidant enzymes in counteracting cellular damage, but this protective mechanism diminished as the reaction duration extended. The UV/PDS treatment not only inflicted damage upon H. akashiwo's photosynthetic system but also caused the extracellular release of DNA and algal organic matter (AOM) due to damaged cell membranes. Transcriptome analysis provided a molecular biology perspective on the cellular inactivation process. Upregulation of genes linked to photosynthesis and oxidative phosphorylation suggested a potential elevation in energy metabolism. In contrast, genes associated with cellular and metabolic processes, including glycolysis and the tricarboxylic acid cycle (TCA cycle), exhibited downregulation. Moreover, this treatment exerted an inhibitory influence on RNA polymerase and protein synthesis, resulting in the reduced expression of genetic information.