engleski

Pilot study on ozonation as a possible treatment for ballast water

Ships' ballast water has proven to be an important mechanism for the introduction of non-indigenous species (NIS). Once introduced into new habitats, NIS can cause significant adverse ecological and economic impacts on coastal and estuarine waters. Besides the alteration to biological diversity and reported worldwide economic losses, ships' ballast water represents a direct threat to human health (e.g. risk associated with water-borne pathogens, paralytic shellfish poisoning etc.). A pilot plant study in the Republic of Croatia is being conducted to determine the applicability of ozonation for inactivation of non-indigenous species and to provide necessary information regarding use of ozone as a ballast water treatment option. In present study, nauplii of the brine shrimp Artemia salina were used as a model organism to investigate the efficacy of ozonation at three different ozone dosages (2.4 mg/L, 3.7 mg/L and 10.9 mg/L). Seawater was obtained from Mali Ston Bay. Mortality of Artemia nauplii, 98.6 %, was achieved after 3 h of exposure in ozone-treated water with the highest ozone dosage. Our results indicate that ozonation may be a promising treatment for controlling non-indigenous and potentially invasive species, but in order to draw more general conclusions several species with higher level of resistance to ozone need to be included in pilot study.

Ballast water; seawater ozonation; inactivation of Artemia salina nauplii; non-indigenous species; total residual oxidants

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