Potential Applications of a Novel Ballast Water Pretreatment Device: Grinding Device

To investigate the removal efficiency of the grinding device (GD) as a potential replacement for the pretreatment filtration device of ballast water, solid grinding and viability experiment were conducted according to a treatment flow rate of 5 tons (Pilot test, PT), and 200 tons (Full-scale test, FST) per h. The solid grinding effect was observed in the particle size of ≥25 μm. Under the high-turbidity conditions (>300 mg L−1), no change in pressure (0.98 kgf/cm2) or stoppage in the GD were observed. The removal efficiency of the GD for >100 μm organism was determined to be 100% in both PT and FST, whereas the removal efficiency was determined to be 93% and 87% in the PT and FST, respectively, for the <100 μm organism. There was no statistically significant change in the removal efficiency stored within 2 h after passing through the GD, while the removal efficiency was determined to be ≥99% in the sample stored for 120 h. Future study is necessary to determine the additional removal efficiency according to the storage period after passing through the GD, but the GD might be utilized as the pretreatment device for the ballast water management system.