Electrolytic treatment of invasive and exogenous contaminated ballast wastewater

Ballasts water management is an emerging environmental issue in Canada. It has been estimated that the annually amount of ballast water carried in ships is above 10 billion tons. Moreover the ballast wastewater contains a great amount of organisms and microorganisms that are potentially pathogenic. Consequently the ballast discharge at the port of destination without appropriate treatment may lead to the introduction of invasive and exogenous species in the Canadian environment. Furthermore the entrance of those non-native organisms can result in the disruption of the fragile marine and fluvial ecosystems. To address this issue, we propose to develop an innovative and robust ballast water treatment combining electrocoagulation (ECOTHOR-16R – E2Metrix Inc) and electro-oxidation at pre-industrial scale. This treated ballast water must respect the current IMO regulation.

Firstly the patented system ECOTHOR-16R by E2Metrix Inc will enable to clarify the wastewater by removing suspended matter and colloids via a decantation or a flotation step. Following this primary treatment, the clarified water will be electro-oxidized where the in-situ oxidants generation by electrodes (free radicals and chlorine) will provide disinfection in the treated water. The interest in such green technologies lies in their application without further use of chemical reagents (only electrodes). Hence, this two steps disinfection treatment using only electrodes will provide an effective alternative to the ballast water environmental issue in Canada.

In collaboration with the Port of Quebec and E2Metrix, the electrolytic process performance will be evaluated in order to meet the requirements of D2 regulations emitted by the International Maritime Organization (IMO)

The success of this project will enable E2Metrix to develop an innovative and green technology in the promising market of ballast water management in Canada.