Butyltin in ballast water of merchant ships

Implications of the ban on organotins for protection of global coastal and marine ecology

“…Other sources of organotin contamination through ship fouling are not regulated. For example, Hua and Liu (2007) presented a study to demonstrate that TBT may be transported through ballast water. This study has shown that TBT/BTs (butyl-tins) ratio of analysed ballast water (0.53) was higher than those of the analysed values in port water (0.44).…”

“…Originating from the inside of ships, ballast water may act as a vector of much greater capacity and contribute to the rebuild-up of TBT contamination in estuaries, international seaports, and coastal regions. Hua and Liu (2007) further believe that there may be two sources of TBT contamination -TBT in antifouling paint coated in the ballast tank might contribute to the increase of TBT concentration in ballast waters, and ballast water from regions contaminated with organotins might contaminate other areas with organotins. However, virtually all the regulations on the use of TBT paints have not been applied to ballast tanks (IMO, 2005).…”

Analysis of antifouling agents after regulation of tributyltin compounds in Korea

“…Samples were taken from June 18 to 21, 2006 and from July 19 to 23,2009. Two liters of seawater were drawn from a depth of 20 cm and stored in polyethylene (PE) bottles.…”

“…First, because large ships were often docked in big harbors, the degree of pollution was severe due to the amounts of ballast that were discharged. Some reported that the pollution by ballasts was different, depending on the antifouling agents used on each ship [23]. Therefore, big harbors should concurrently investigate the butyltin compounds that have been used in the past, as well as new antifouling agents that are applied on new ships.…”

Inactivation of Escherichia coli using UV/AgTiO2/O3‐mediated advanced oxidation: application to ballast water disinfection

“…1,2 It is estimated that about 10 billion tons of ballast water are transferred globally each year. 3 However, ships transporting ballast water between geographically isolated ports contribute to the spread of many aquatic species beyond their natural range limits, which is regarded as one of the four major risk factors that threaten global marine environmental safety, the others being: over-exploitation of living marine resources; land-based sources of marine pollution; physical alteration and destruction of coastal and marine habitat.…”