Shipboard testing of the efficacy of SeaKleen® as a ballast water treatment to eliminate non‐indigenous species aboard a working tanker in Pacific waters

Abstract

Trials were conducted aboard the tanker Seabulk Mariner to test a natural product, SeaKleen, as a biocide controlling non-indigenous populations of plankton and bacteria in ballast water. SeaKleen was dosed into matched ballast tanks at two different concentrations, 0.8 mg L(-1) active ingredient (a.i.) and 1.6 mg L(-1) a.i. during ballasting off the Oregon coast during a three-day passage to Prince William Sound, Alaska. Live organism counts from treated ballast water were compared with those from untreated (control tank) water collected from the same source location. Shipboard chemical analyses were made to verify dose and quantify chemical degradation and residuals following dilution. Results indicated that both SeaKleen doses resulted in complete zooplankton and phytoplankton mortality and that the higher dose (1.6 mg L(-1) a.i.) caused a two-log removal of culturable bacteria over a 92 h grow-out period. Spectrophotometry confirmed initial dosing to within 5% of nominal values. Shipboard bioassays were conducted using larval fish (Cyprinodon variegatus), brine shrimp (Artemia salina) and the bioluminescent dinoflagellate Pyrocystis lunula. Exposure of the test organisms to water drawn from treated ballast tanks 48 h after SeaKleen was added to the tanks resulted in 100% mortalities in Cyprinodon and Pyrocystis at both doses. Corresponding mortalities for Artemia larvae were 100% and 60% for high and low SeaKleen doses, respectively. Toxicity testing of treated water, subjected to varying dilutions, indicated that residual toxicity to even the most sensitive organisms would be eliminated once the discharge had dispersed beyond 100 feet from the vessel.

Lethal Effects of Pulsed High-Voltage Discharge on Marine Plankton and Escherichia coli

“…Many technologies to remove organisms in seawater have been developed using filtration, heating treatment, ultraviolet radiation, deoxygenation, ozone, and various biocides (Waite et al 2003;Quilez-Badia et al 2008;Wright et al 2009). However, no single technology is exclusively superior to others, indicating that there remains scope for an effective treatment that is highly effective, easily applied and environmentally benign at discharge (Gregg and Hallegraeff 2007).…”

Assessment of didecyldimethylammonium chloride as a ballast water treatment method

“…Exceptions exist like the SeaKleen ® trials which resulted in reliable disinfection of both zooplankton and phytoplankton using menadione as sole active substance without the use of filtration. [33] At 2.5 μL L −1 DDAC, zooplankton abundance was not reduced to below 10 organisms m −3 . In particular, bivalve larvae appeared resistant to the treatment.…”

A comparison of six different ballast water treatment systems based on UV radiation, electrochlorination and chlorine dioxide

“…To meet these standards, a number of companies started developing ballast water treatment systems (BWTSs). These BWTSs are based on a variety of techniques, [16][17][18][19][20][21] but most common are a combination of a filter to remove organisms > 50μm followed by disinfection by ultraviolet (UV) radiation or electrolytic generation of hypochlorite (electrochlorination (EC)). At the Royal Netherlands Institute for Sea Research (NIOZ), these BWTS are tested according to IMO regulations G8 and G9.…”