Environmental Engineering Reference
In-Depth Information
Ballast Water Management Systems
for Vessels
Matej David and Stephan Gollasch
Abstract
In this chapter we focus on ballast water management systems (BWMS)
which are currently in use as well as treatment approaches manufacturers have cho-
sen for the development of future BWMS. The main purpose of this review is to
identify the current availability of BWMS technologies worldwide. Until January
2014 we brought together information of 104 different BWMS. To achieve the bal-
last water discharge standards, different water treatment technologies are used,
mostly in combination, and applied in different stages of the ballasting process. In
general, the treatment processes can be split in three stages, i.e., pre-treatment,
treatment and residual control (neutralisation). Among the 104 BWMS identifi ed,
100 apply their treatment at the uptake, some of those BWMS require also a treat-
ment during ballast water discharge (in-line treatment) and three BWMS apply
treatment only during the voyage (in-tank treatment). The majority of BWMS use
fi ltration or a combination of hydrocyclone and fi ltration as pre-treatment separa-
tion step. The dominating treatment processes are to use an active substance, mostly
generated on board by electrolysis/electrochlorination. The second most frequent
treatment process is UV. BWMS to be installed for operation on vessels need to be
type approved by a state. By the writing of this chapter more than 30 BWMS were
type approved. It should be noted that the development of BWMS is a very dynamic
market with newly proposed BWMS appearing almost on a monthly basis. The
chapter also outlines how BWMS are applied on vessels, their capacities and instal-
lation requirements, which BWMS were type approved, and what projected global
market for BWMS may exist. A recent calculation on the estimated value of the
global market for purchasing and installing BWMSs resulted in an estimated turn-
over of possibly $50-74 billion. The chapter ends with a list of manufacturers, com-
mercial names of their BWMS, applied treatment technologies used and links to
BWMS web pages where available.
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