FASTBALLAST

Abstract

This technical report presents findings from bench-scale verification tests evaluating the performance of the FastBallast compliance monitoring device in freshwater. FastBallast was developed by Chelsea Technologies Ltd. of Surrey, UK. The evaluation of the FastBallast compliance monitoring device began in August 2020 and ended in December 2020 at the Lake Superior Research Institute (LSRI) of the University of Wisconsin-Superior (UWS) in Superior, Wisconsin, USA. The FastBallast device employs Single Turnover Active Fluorometry (STAF) to rapidly quantify living organisms in ballast water samples in the ≥10 µm and <50 µm (nominally protists) regulated size class, providing an indication of compliance or exceedance of the International Maritime Organization (IMO) International Convention for the Control and Management of Ships’ Ballast Water and Sediments Regulation D-2 Ballast Water Performance Standard (2004). Verification testing composed of three phases in which results using the FastBallast device were compared to results using microscopic methods. Phase I testing was completed in two water types with laboratory-cultured organisms in the protist regulated size class, utilizing the single-celled protist Haematococcus pluvialis and colonial protist Scenedesmus quadricauda. Phase II testing was completed using naturally occurring Great Lakes organisms in the Duluth-Superior Harbor of Lake Superior. Phase III testing was completed using Duluth-Superior harbor water an ambient organism before and after treatment with a ballast water treatment (BWT) technology during three land-based trials. Data from all phases were analyzed for precision, accuracy, and reliability. Quantification/detection limits were calculated using data from Phase I testing. Phase I testing showed that FastBallast was effective at quantifying single-celled protists but was less accurate at counting colonial protists. Increased turbidity and carbon content slightly impacted FastBallast results, however, both water types displayed strong correlations to microscopic counts. FastBallast results were lower than microscopic counts in all trials of Phase I. Phase II testing showed strong correlations between the FastBallast results and microscopic results of protists collected from the Duluth-Superior Harbor, however the counts reported by FastBallast were 4 to 10 times greater than the microscopic counts. Phase III testing showed FastBallast accurately measured uptake and treated discharge water from samples collected during a land-based BWT technology evaluation. FastBallast counts were more similar to the density of protist entities ≥10 µm in any dimension than they were to live density of individual protist cells comprising entities ≥10 µm in minimum dimension. The device was found to have minor operational issues but was found reliable for measuring organisms within the protist size class.LSRI-GWRC would like to thank Chelsea Technologies Ltd. (Surrey, UK) for their application to our laboratory-based testing program and for providing the FastBallast device and the expendable supplies for analysis. Mary Burkitt-Gray and Kevin Oxborough at Chelsea Technologies Ltd. provided operational training support prior to the start of testing and were also instrumental in helping to troubleshoot technical/operational issues that occurred during testing. This work was supported by a grant from the United States Department of Transportation Maritime Administration’s Maritime Environmental and Technical Assistance Program