Evaluation of Micro-pore Ceramic Filtration and UV Radiation Combination on Ballast Water Treatment

Currently applied filtration methods on ballast water treatment may have problems of low efficiency, low flow rate or short lifespan. So a novel micro-pore ceramic filter (MPCF) is used to combine with UV. To evaluate the performance of the new approach, alga removal percentages and oceanic bacteria inactivation rates were studied on simulated ballast water mixing with indicator algae. They were compared with single MPCF treatment and UV treatment at different flow rates and alga concentration. Up to 96.2% on Chlorella Vulgari, and up to 100% on both Nitzschia Closterium and bacteria were observed in the experiment, by combination of micro-pore ceramic filtration and UV radiation (MPCF&UV). MPCF&UV approach obviously superior than either MPCF or UV treatment on both alga removal and bacteria inactivation.