Ballast Water Treatment Systems: Type Approval, Certification, Comparison and Retrofitting Ship

Abstract

International Maritime Organization (IMO) has developed a legislation called ‘International Convention for the Control and Management of Ships Ballast Water and Sediments’ to regulate the discharge of ballast water and reduce the risk of introducing non-native species from ships ballast water. To reduce this risk, there are various treatment methods available in the market. These treatment systems must be approved by the administration in accordance with IMO guidelines. The main objective and scope of this work is to review and compare IMO and USCG requirements in terms of type approval, inspection and certification requirements, to describe and compare different treatment methods and to discuss about selection of appropriate technology based on various factors such as safety, environment, practicability, cost and biological effectiveness in terms of effective removal or inactivation of harmful aquatic organisms and pathogens in ballast water. In this thesis work, some of the alternate and innovative ballast water management systems have been discussed as well. In addition to that, a case study about retrofitting ship has been conducted. This work has been developed in association with Westcon Design Poland, to serve as a reference covering various aspects of ballast water management and it can provide different perspective to all stakeholders such as classification societies particularly to Overseas Marine Certification Services (OMCS Class), ship owners, design offices, shipyards, treatment system manufacturers and others who are involved in the implementation of the convention. Based on data collected from various sources associated with this subject, comparison and analysis at different stages of this work, conclusions and recommendations have been obtained to serve the purpose for which this work has been carried out.