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MERC STDN Test Plan
9
Active Substance and Measurement:
The test solution will be ballast water discharged from the test tanks during each trial of
the BalPure system. The active substance involved in this treatment is chlorine. According to
Section 5.2.8 of the IMO G9 resolution, information on Total Residual Oxidants (TRO) and
Total Residual Chlorine (TRC) should be provided as part of the application for evaluation, for
both the ballast treatment process and the ballast water discharge. The Standard Methods for the
Examination of Water and Wastewater Low-Level Amperometric Titration methods 4500-Cl D
and E will be used to measure TRO and TRC in the ballast water discharge and in the various
test dilutions. A Fischer and Porter amperometric titrator (Model 17T2000) will be used for all
measurements. By using the high-sensitivity mode, a forward titration, and a 200 ml sample,
TRO quantification limits for method 4500-Cl D are 15 µg/L TRO. With this sample size, 1 ml
phenylarsene oxide (PAO, 0.00564
N
) titrant equals 1 mg/L chlorine equivalents. For lower
levels of oxidant, method 4500-Cl E will be used. A fourfold-diluted PAO titrant (0.00141
N
)
and a strip-chart recorder for signal amplification from the Fischer and Porter amperometric
titrator (Model 17T2000) will be used to measure TRO concentrations to 5 µg/L. Samples will
be analyzed immediately upon collection onboard the
Cape Washington
to avoid loss of oxidant
due to holding. In addition to the amperometric titration method we will use a YSI Mulitmeter
(Model # 556) equipped with a probe to measure oxidation reduction potential (ORP). The
probe uses a platinum button sensor giving the instrument a range of -999 to +999 mV, an
accuracy of ± 20 mV and a Resolution of 0.1 mV.
Experimental Design and Test Conditions:
Toxicity tests will be conducted on the discharge from all test trials. As required by the
IMO G9, the discharge water will be tested with three estuarine species as described in Section
2.1. Both acute and chronic data will be generated for each test. A dilution series, using
Baltimore Harbor water, will be run for each species.
Test samples will be collected at the time of discharge from the MERC facility. Samples
will be collected by the MERC staff for analysis of both the efficacy of treatment at eliminating
organisms from the ballast water and to investigate residual toxicity at discharge as described
above. For the suite of toxicity tests, a volume of 38 L (10 gallons) must be collected. This
includes enough water to do all of the test renewals. Test water will be stored in large HDPE
containers and held at 4°C in the dark to retain as much of the initial toxicity as possible.
Portions of this sample will be used each day to serve as the renewal water for the bioassay.
Sub-samples of each will also be sent to a certified chemistry laboratory (TBD) for analysis of
disinfection byproducts. MERC Testing Team will collect/deliver all samples for chemical
analysis and manage analytical results but costs of chemical analysis will be covered by STDN.
Summaries of the proposed test methods are given in Tables 4 through 8 (page 20). All
of the tests will be conducted at the WREC toxicology laboratory. Since chlorine degrades
rapidly, all toxicity tests will be initiated within two hours of the completion of a specific trial.
Pilot studies have demonstrated that there is no measurable difference in chloronated water held
for five days and then either tested within 30 minutes of collection or after a two hour holding
and transport time. Standard EPA (2002) and ASTM (2006) methods that have used in at
WREC since 1987 to conduct Whole Effluent Toxicity tests and single compound toxicity tests,
will be employed. The survival and growth end-points from these tests are those required by the