Ecofriendly ballast water treatment
Ship’s ballast water can hold ‘alien’ species
An environmentally friendly ballast water treatment solution has been developed that actually uses a compound produced from seawater to help complete the process.
The SiCure system, developed by Siemens Water Technologies and supplied by Venteville, is an environmentally friendly solution to prevent invasive foreign organisms from entering national waters via ballast water of ships.
The system uses a combination of physical separation by filters and treatment with hypochlorite, which is itself produced from sea water. At higher volumes treatment with hypochlorite is said to be more space and energy efficient than UV light applications. The system works without the addition of chemicals and can process ballast water at a rate of 600m³/h.
The development ties in with the Ballast Water Treaty, which will soon be requiring ships to have a system to purify water of alien organisms.
It’s not a problem to be taken lightly. Free from natural predators and checks and balances, alien invasive species can wipe out local industries and they are thought to be harming the global economy to the tune of US$1.4 trillion a year, if not far more.
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