This technology could meet a widespread need for rapid assessments on an operational basis by organisations, such as Port State Control (PSC), the company said.
The new technology can provide the capability to quickly assess an organism’s viability to reproduce. Based on established fluorescence methods, it assesses the ability of phytoplankton to undergo photorepair.
It has been claimed to demonstrate a strong correlation with proven reproductive assessments such as the Most Probable Number (MPN) method, and can enable an accurate assessment within minutes, and thus provides a breakthrough improvement in performance in monitoring compliance for the 10 to 50 μm organism class, Sea-Bird said.
Verifying compliance with ballast water management regulations and the performance of the vessels’ ballast water management system (BWMS) may involve sampling of ballast water in port. Currently, an accurate and representative analysis of ballast water in port to establish treatment compliance has many practical limitations and is said to be among the largest obstacles facing the industry.
“Assessing as organisms’ ability to reproduce in ballast water in a manner acceptable to Port State Control is important for regulators and shipowners to help ensure ballast water is being properly treated,” Dr Andrew Barnard, Sea-Bird Scientific CTO said. “We are excited about this emerging technology and believe it has significant potential to aide in the enforcement of ballast water regulations.”
De Nora, a supplier of electrochlorination equipment, has announced that its patented BALPURE (BWTS is currently progressing through both land-based and shipboard testing for compliance with US Coast Guard (USCG) ballast water management legislation.
Testing and evaluations leading to USCG Type Approval are being completed under the NSF Independent Laboratory at the Maritime Environmental Resource Centre (MERC) in Baltimore.
The conclusion of these two testing periods will complete the four document packs that De Nora will submit to the USCG to apply for type approval for its BWTS, which is already certified under the USCG Alternative Management System (AMS).
BALPURE is being tested with filters from multiple suppliers and has already completed one of the three salinities required by the land-based testing. It was previously identified by the US EPA Science Advisory Board (SAB) as one of three systems that demonstrated the ability to meet a standard 10 times more stringent than the IMO D-2 standard.
The slipstream design concept, patented by De Nora for use in BALPURE systems, was developed using its experience derived from on-site generation of electrolytic biocide solutions.
It has been rigorously tested both by class societies, plus legislators and in commercial use, and has already secured IMO Type Approval, as well as type approval from LR, ABS and BV.
To date, De Nora BALPUR has been selected for 55 newbuilding LNGCs and tankers and was recently chosen for the retrofit of seven vessels.
IACS member - Korean Register (KR) - has expanded its BWMS land-based test facilities by opening a new specialist laboratory.
KR has been conducting type approval testing of BWMS since 2004, with a consortium of six different partners. This range of expert knowledge and high quality services was recognised when KR was accepted as the first Independent Laboratory in Asia to be accredited by the United States Coast Guard (USCG IL).
To mitigate a ‘bottle-neck’ situation with testing for USCG type approval, KR and one of its partners, Korea Marine Equipment Research Institute (KOMERI) agreed to work together to establish and to build additional test facilities to meet this demand, which was completed on 22nd July this year.
The test facility has been expanded through the addition of three further units, and it now offers a total testing capacity for up to a maximum capacity 500 cu m per hour together with four testing slots.
The new facility will be approved by the USCG in September and at the same time will become fully operational for land-based testing for USCG type approval, as well type approval testing for other administrations under the IMO’s G8 guidelines.
A new two-day course has been launched by Warsash Maritime Academy, part of Southampton Solent University, in response to the imminent ratification of the IMO Ballast Water Management Convention (2004).
This course will ensure that company and organisation officials are better prepared to implement and monitor the Convention, the academy said.
The Ballast Water Management (BWM) course was designed to help provide a clear understanding of implementation and monitoring requirements at an early stage.
Petrochemical senior lecturer and course leader, Captain Nadeem Anwar, said: “There are no mandatory training requirements to date. However, for monitoring purposes, the administrations either have to organise in-house training or take advantage of the available quality course on this topic.
“Similarly, the shipping companies need to develop an in-house ability to inform their decision making regarding the technology to adapt as per the Convention. Upon ratification, there will be – as usual – a race against time; therefore by attending our course this is an opportunity to prepare for compliance,” he said.
The first course is due to start on 5th October, 2016.