The International Maritime Organization (IMO) ballast water management agreement (International Convention for the Control and Management of Ship's Ballast Water and Sediments) came into force on September 8, 2017. This study evaluated the disinfection performance of electrolysis, UV treatment, and electrolysis + UV combined, to improve the treatment of zooplankton (size ≥ 50 μm), which is expected to strengthen the standards for biodegradation efficiency. Among the methods used, the disinfection time leading to 100% death was in the order: electrolysis > electrolysis + UV > UV process. For the same level of disinfection performance, the amount of electricity required for the electrolysis, UV, and electrolysis + UV processes were 1,300 W.s, 8,400 W.S, and 4,500 W.s, respectively. The combination of electrolysis + UV process for inactivation of zooplankton in ballast water did not show a synergic effect owing to the slow disinfection time and high power consumption.
This study was conducted to investigate the effect of salt concentration and turbidity on the inactivation of Artemia sp. by electrolysis, UV photolysis, electrolysis+UV process to treat ballast water in the presence of brackish water or muddy water caused by rainfall. The inactivation at different salt concentrations (30 g/L and 3 g/L) and turbidity levels (0, 156, 779 NTU) was compared. A decrease in salt concentration reduced RNO (OH radical generation index) degradation and TRO (Total Residual Oxidant) production, indicating that a longer electrolysis time is required to achieve a 100% inactivation rate in electrolysis process. In the UV process, the higher turbidity results in lower UV transmittance and lower inactivation efficiency of Artemia sp. Higher the turbidity resulted in lower ultraviolet transmittance in the UV process and lower inactivation efficiency of Artemia sp. A UV exposure time of over 30 seconds was required for 100% inactivation. Factors affecting inactivation efficiency of Artemia sp. in low salt concentration are in the order: electrolysis+UV > electrolysis > UV process. In the case of electrolysis+UV process, TRO is lower than the electrolysis process, but RNO is more decomposed, indicating that the OH radical has a greater effect on the inactivation effect. In low salt concentrations and high turbidity conditions, factors affecting Artemia sp. inactivation were in the order electrolysis > electrolysis+UV > UV process. When the salt concentration is low and the turbidity is high, the electrolysis process is affected by the salt concentration and the UV process is affected by turbidity. Therefore, the synergy due to the combination of the electrolysis process and the UV process was small, and the inactivation was lower than that of the single electrolysis process only affected by the salt concentration.