A Brief Review of Emerging Technology in Ballast Water Treatment for Ships Building in Vietnam
Author(s):
Minh Hai Duong
Affiliation(s):
Naval Technical Institute, Hai Phong City, Vietnam
Corresponding Author Email: [email protected]
This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
Ballast water is taken on-board vessels into ballast water tanks to maintain vessel draft, buoyancy, and stability. Unmanaged ballast water contains aquatic organisms that, when transported and discharged to non-native waters, may establish as invasive species. Technologies capable of achieving regulatory limits designed to decrease the likelihood of invasion include onboard ballast water management systems. Invasive aquatic species discharged through ballast water is one of the most serious problems posed nowadays in the marine environment. This review paper summarizes the emerging available technologies applied for ballast water treatment. These technologies can be either port-based or ship-based, with the latter being easier to implement. Special emphasis was given to onboard treatment methods, which can be categorized as physical separation, mechanical or chemical methods. The efficiency of the methods, as well as the capacity of application and the target microorganisms, were compiled and are presented in this review.