MERC ER01-14
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1. Background and Objectives of MERC Technology Evaluations
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
.
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.
MERC evaluated the performance characteristics of the Filtrex ACB Filtration System
through objective and quality assured land-based testing. The goal of this specific evaluation
was to provide information on the performance of the system under the conditions specified in
the test plan. The data and information on performance characteristics cover legitimate
information that users need and compare performance against the U.S. Coast Guard regulations
for discharge of ballast water and similar International Maritime Organization (IMO) D-2
regulatory discharge standards.
MERC does not certify technologies nor guarantee that a treatment will always, or under
circumstances other than those used in testing, operate at the levels verified. Treatment systems
are not labeled or listed as acceptable or unacceptable. However, tests and results are in a format
consistent with that requested by specific regulations (e.g., IMO D2, G8 and G9) so they can be
used to determine compliance by Administrations and classification societies. Sampling and
analytical procedures utilized by the MERC team also comply with the US Environmental
Protection Agency ETV Protocols (2010) in anticipation of the publication of U.S. Federal
Standards under the auspices of the U.S. Coast Guard. Final summary reports on technology
performance will be reviewed by the members of the MERC Advisory Board and provided to
FILTREX and the MERC funding agencies prior to public release. All specific terms of a testing
program associated with a particular treatment system, including management of test findings,
are outlined in a Participation Agreement executed between the treatment developer and
MERC/University of Maryland Center for Environmental Science.
