Ballast Water Thesis Experiment

The Effectiveness of Bromine as a Method to Stop Microbial

Invasions via Ballast WaterBy: Sarah Chmielewski

Mentor: Dr. Nolan

Reasons Why This Study is Important

• Invasive species can cause billions of dollars in economical, and ecological burden

• Because the invasive species have no natural enemies where they are introduced they can easily take over an area

• Examples:o The Snakehead fish in the

Potomac River in Marylando Zebra Mussel of the Great

Lakes (Krebs 2001)

Current Ballast Control Methods, and Their Downsides

• Chlorination (Azanza 2001)o Releases toxins into

the environmento Toxic at very low levels

• UV treatment (Azanza 2001)o Expensiveo Not effective unless

solids are removed

• Deoxygenation (Tamburri 2002)o Expensiveo Requires a minimum of

96 hours of being held • Filtration (Waite 2003)

o Very slow

Why Bromine?

• Chlorine is already a widely used method and is very effective

• Chlorine and bromine are very similar chemically

• Due to the ballast’s water proximity to the engines the water heats up to around 37 C (Rogby 2000)

• Bromine as well can be detoxified upon adding sodium thiosulfate (Na2S2O3), which allows the ballast water to not be detrimental to the environment its discharged in

• In my experience with pools and hot tubs bromine is the more commonly used chemical because it is more stable at higher temperatures then chlorine

My Hypotheses are…

H1 Bromine will have a higher efficiency than chlorine at removing microbes in ballast water.H2 In the samples treated with both chemicals, the sodium thiosulfate will detoxify the bromine, and the treatments will show no differences from the control.

QuestionQ1 What was the lowest concentration of bromine that would remove microbes from ballast water?

Experimental Treatments

10 ppm bromine

10 ppm bromine with Na2S2O3

30 ppm bromine

30 ppm bromine with Na2S2O3

10 ppm chlorine

Time 0

Control

Control with Na2S2O3

1 ppm bromine

1ppm bromine with Na2S2O3

Why one week?

• According to the literature ships large ships that require ballast water take at least a week to travel transatlantic distances (Drake 2002)

• Species from other sides of the oceans were generally the cause for more problems because their natural predators are not in our country

Tests performed

Time Line

Early 2005- Started discussions with Dr.

Nolan

Jan 2007- Ran pilot test on Bromine and Chlorine

May 2007- Ran experiment

Summer 2007- Ran statistics

2005-2006- Completed article search

Summary

• Bromine as 10 ppm is as effective as chlorine at preventing bacterial growth and phytoplankton’s ability to photosynthesize

• Although the sodium thiosulfate seemed to neutralize the bromine for bacterial growth it did not neutralize it in the instance of phytoplankton's ability to photosynthesize

• The bromine at 10 ppm doesn’t lower the pH as much as the higher concentrations or the chlorine, so it is not as detrimental to the environment.

• Bromine seems to be a promising method for treating ballast water but more research is needed on the matter before anything definite can be said.

References

• Azanza, M.P.V., R.V. Azanza, A.I. Gedaria, H.G. Sententa, and M.V. Idjao. "Decimal Reduction Times of Pyrodium bahamense Var. compressum and Escherichia coli in Chlorine and Ultraviolet-Treated Seawater." The Society for Applied Microbiology 33 (2001): 371-376.

• Carlton, James T., and Jonathan B. Geller. "Ecological Roulette: the Global Transport of Nonindigenous Marine Organisms." Science 261 (1993): 78-82.

• Drake, Lisa A., Gregory M. Ruiz, Bella S. Galil, Timothy L. Mullady, Daniela O. Friedmann, and Fred C. Dobbs. "Microbial Ecology of Ballast Water During a Transoceanic Voyage and the Effects of Open-Ocean Exchange." Marine Ecology Progress Series 233 (2002): 13-20.

• Hallegraeff, Gustaaf M., Joseph P. Valentine, Judith-Anne Marshall, and Christopher J. Bolch. "Temperature Tolerance of Toxic Dinoflagellate Cysts: Application to the Treatment of Ship's Ballast Water." Aquatic Ecology 31 (1997): 47-52.

• Krebs, Charles J. Ecology: the Experimental Analysis of Distribution and Abundance. 5th ed. Benjamin-Cummings Pub Co, 2001.

• Kuzirian, Alan M., Eleanor C. Terry, Deanna L. Bechtel, and Patrick L. James. "Hydrogen Peroxide: an Effective Treatment for Ballast Water." Ecology and Population Biology 201 (2001): 297-299.

• Nimi, Arthur J. "Environmental and Economic Factors Can Increase the Risk of Exotic Species Introduction to the Artic Region Through Increased Ballast Water Discharge." Environmental Management 33 (2004): 712-718.

• Rogby, Geoff. "From Ballast to Bouillabaisse." Science 289 (2000): 241. • Tamburri, Mario N., Kerstin Wasson, and Masayasu Matsuda. "Ballast Water Deoxygenation Can Prevent Aquatic

Introductions While Reducing Ship Corrosion." Biological Conservation 103 (2002): 331-341. • Waite, T D., J Kazumi, P.v.z. Lane, L.l. Farmer, S.g. Smith, S.l. Smith, G. Hitchcock, and T.r. Capo. "Removal of

Natural Populations of Marine Plankton by a Large-Scale Ballast Water Treatment System." Marine Ecology Progress Series 258 (2003): 51-63.