title: Management and environmental risk study of the physicochemical parameters of ballast water.
abstract: Shipping is a vital industry for the global economy. Stability of ships, provided by ballast water, is a crucial factor for cargo loading and unloading processes. Ballast water treatment has practical significance in terms of environmental issues, ecosystem, and human health, because ships discharge this water into the environment before loading their cargos. This study reviews the common methods for ballast water management - exchange, heating, filtration, ultrasonic treatment, ultraviolet irradiation, chemicals, and gas supersaturation - to select the best one. This study compares water temperature, salinity, dissolved oxygen, polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs), and heavy metals (Co, Cr, Ni, Pb) for ballast tanks of selected ships with the recipient port environment in the Persian Gulf as a case study. The exchange of ballast water in the ocean and/or its treatment on board to prevent inadvertent effects on the environment's physicochemical conditions is related to vessel characteristics, legislation, and the environmental condition. Ecological risk study showed that the salt content in ballast water is close to that of seawater, but the values of Cr (2.1mg/l) and Ni (0.029mg/l) in ballast water are higher than those in seawater (1 and 0.004mg/l, respectively).
authors.affiliation: School of Engineering and Physical Sciences, Heriot-Watt University, Edinburgh, United Kingdom.
authors.forename: Nosaibeh
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Nosrati-Ghods
authors.affiliation: Young Researchers and Elite Club, South Tehran Branch, Islamic Azad University, Tehran, Iran. Electronic address: M_ghadiri10@yahoo.com.
authors.forename: Mehdi
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Ghadiri
authors.affiliation: School of Engineering and Physical Sciences, Heriot-Watt University, Edinburgh, United Kingdom.
authors.forename: Wolf-Gerrit
authors.initials: WG
authors.lastname: Früh
mesh_terms: D006801:Humans; D019156:Indian Ocean; D019216:Metals, Heavy / Q000032:analysis; D010100:Oxygen / Q000032:analysis; D011084:Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons / Q000032:analysis; D054712:Salinity; D012623:Seawater / Q000032:analysis; D012767:Ships; D013696:Temperature; D014867:Water; D014874:Water Pollutants, Chemical / Q000032:analysis; D018508:Water Purification / Q000379:methods*
chemical_list: D019216:Metals, Heavy; D011084:Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons; D014874:Water Pollutants, Chemical; D014867:Water; D010100:Oxygen
keywords: Ballast water; Ecological risk study; Management; Physiochemical condition