1
1.
MERC Background and Objectives
The Maritime Environmental Resource Center (MERC) is a State of Maryland initiative
that provides test facilities, information, and decision tools to address key environmental issues
facing the international maritime industry. The Center’s primary focus is to evaluate the
mechanical and biological efficacy, associated costs, and logistical aspects of ballast water
treatment systems and the economic impacts of ballast water regulations and management
approaches. A full description of MERC’s structure, products, and services can be found at
www.maritime-enviro.org
.
To address the need for effective, safe, and reliable ballast water treatment systems to
prevent the introduction of non-native species, MERC has developed as a partnership between
the Maryland Port Administration (MPA), Chesapeake Biological Laboratory/ University of
Maryland Center for Environmental Science (CBL/UMCES), U.S. Maritime Administration
(
MARAD), Smithsonian Environmental Research Center (SERC), University of Maryland
(
UMD), and Old Dominion University (ODU) to provide independent performance testing and to
help facilitate the transition of new treatment technologies to shipboard implementation and
operations.
This report describes the MERC land-based evaluation of the BIO-SEA Marine Ballast
Water Management System (BWMS) through objective and quality assured land-based testing in
the Port of Baltimore. The goal of this evaluation was to provide shipping lines, regulators,
classification societies, and flag states with an independent and credible assessment of treatment
performance under realistic conditions. Therefore, the data and information on performance
characteristics covers legitimate information to meet the evaluation's objective, and performance
is presented in a way to allow for comparison against the USCG Ballast Water Discharge
Regulations (2012) and the IMO International Convention for the Control and Management of
Ships' Ballast Water and Sediments (2004), Regulation D-2 Ballast Water Performance Standard.
2.
Description of the BIO-SEA Ballast Water Management System
The BIO-SEA treatment system combines mechanical 40 µm filtration and parallel-
mounted UV reactors equipped with one medium pressure lamp each. The treatment system has
been designed to be modular and compact, for treating flow rates ranging from 100 to 2,000
m
3
/
h. The BIO-SEA system operates automatically and regulates power consumption depending
on water quality. The treatment process includes three steps: (1) filtration upon ballasting, (2)
followed by UV treatment upon ballasting, and (3) UV treatment on discharge (filter is by-
passed).
3.
Summary of USCG and IMO Standards
This evaluation was designed to determine if the BIO-SEA BWMS options could meet
USCG and IMO D2 standards in accordance with ETV
Generic Protocol for the Verification of
Ballast Water Treatment Technology
(2010)
and IMO
Guidelines for Approval of Ballast Water
Management Systems (G8)
.
USCG Regulations and the IMO Convention both include the
following ballast discharge standards:
1)
Less than 10 viable [live] organisms per m
3
,
greater than or equal to 50 µm in minimum
dimension;
2)
Less than 10 viable [live] organisms per ml, less than 50 µm in minimum dimension and
greater than or equal to 10 µm in minimum dimension and