Final Report Summary - ATLANTIS (Aquatic Technology Linked to A Novel Treatment of Invasive Species)
ATLANTIS is a two year project, funded by the European Commission (EC)'s Seventh Framework Programme (FP7) within the 'Research for small to medium-sized enterprises (SMEs)' scheme. The ATLANTIS consortium is made up of a team of five organisations who have been selected on the basis of their expertise in fields that are complimentary to the development work.
This summary highlights the projects scope and progress made by consortium partners during the first reporting period
The need
Ship's ballast water contains a variety of living organisms, some of which survive transit. When ballast water is discharged, these invasive marine organisms can thrive in their new environments. The environment's natural habitat can be threatened and native species can be preyed upon. The economy and livelihood of local communities dependent upon the invaded area's biodiversity can be threatened.
The introduction of invasive marine organisms into new environments has been identified as the fourth largest threat to the world's oceans. The cost of controlling invasive species and repairing the damage caused in 2008 to the European Union (EU) was estimated to be between EUR 9.6 to EUR 12.7 billion. The estimated global cost is much higher at EUR 80 billion annually.
With 80 % of the world's commodities being transported by sea, there is an environmental and commercial need to develop an effective solution for the dispersal of untreated ballast water.
To facilitate the global prevention of invasive marine species, the IMO adopted the International Convention for the Control and Management of Ship's Ballast Water and Sediment. This convention requires ships to install ballast water treatment (BWT) systems and to employ best practises in managing ballast water treatment.
From 2016, all new ships will require BWT and all existing ships will have a further five years to retrofit a BWT system. In September 2009, six BWT systems met the requirements of the IMO's approval procedures. Several different approaches to these treatments have been used including ultraviolet (UV) technology, deoxygenation and the use of active substances. These first generation systems due to various limitations have sold 23 units globally. Limitations found on current BWT systems include:
- capital outlay for current BWT systems is too high;
- the storage and handling of dangerous chemicals;
- ineffective removal of target organisms;
- size of the BWT system can be too large for retrofitting existing ships;
- some of these systems require trained staff to operate them;
- all these BWT systems deploy several methods of treatments to achieve sufficient cleaning.
Furthermore, the shipping industry is concerned that existing BWT systems are only designed to meet these new IMO regulations and do not consider the needs of the end-user. Flag administrators in the interests of their own shipping industries are delaying ratification of the convention until further development of BWT technology. The limitations of existing BWT technology are not only failing to meet the requirement of the shipping industry but are also delaying international action to prevent damage caused by invasive species.
The solution
The ATLANTIS project proposes to research and develop the first BWT technology to use functional textiles in a treatment bed as a delivery platform for multiple biocidal active substances (BAS). This BWT system will efficiently target and incapacitate a full spectrum of marine organisms < 50 µm. There is an increasing belief that the use of active substances will become a condition to comply with the convention due to other methods being less effective.
There is a risk that active substances in ballast water may still be toxic at the time of discharge. To solve this issue, BAS's will be covalently bonded to non-woven textiles creating a functional textile which will act as a contact-biocide delivery platform. The BAS's tethered by a chemical bond will present functional biocidal groups which can lethally interact with microorganisms without risking the release of active substances into the water.
To meet the market's need for a cost effective BWT system, an enabling platform technology (Alexium's reactive Surface treatment (RST) process) has been identified to create the biocidal functionalised textile solution. To enable the use of the RST process, a number of technological breakthroughs need to be overcome.
Scientific objectives
Our scientific objectives are set to measure our progress and success in the applied research of the project. These include:
- to determine synthetic pathways and reaction conditions for 5 - 10 Si-BAS's (milestone 1);
- to determine the biocidal efficacy in terms of LC90 and minimum contact time of the Si-BAS's compounds against IMO regulations (milestone 1);
- to determine and optimise MW power and exposure time to facilitate grafting of Si-BAS's (milestone 3);
- to access the stability and durability of the Si-BAS's activated textiles in saline water (salinity range 3-32 PSU) under flow conditions of 50 m³/hr over a 12 month period (milestone 2);
- to demonstrate the efficacy of the benchtop biocidal textile treatment bed system against target organisms (G8) at a flow rate of 2.5 m³/hr over a 6 month test period (milestone 4);
- to demonstrate efficacy of the pilot-scale system in achieving water quality to meet IMO D2 standards at a flow of up to 50 m³/hr (milestone 5).
Technical objectives
Our technological objectives outline the developments we need to achieve in order to deliver our prototype ballast water treatment system. These are:
- to create a range of 5 - 10 Si-BAS's that are able to form hypervalent silicon compounds which are to be used with the Alexium RST grafting mechanisms (milestone 1);
- 3 - 5 Si-BAS's textile finishing microemulsion matrixes with droplet sizes 20 - 100 nm (milestone 2);
- to specify 3 - 10 nonwoven materials suitable for application in BWT bed system (milestone 2 and 3);
- to design and construct one to three textile treatment bed configurations providing the required biocide contact time versus flow parameters as determined by computational fluid dynamics (CFD) analysis (milestone 2 and 3);
- to construct a bench top test platform with a flow capacity of 2.5 m³/hr (milestone 4);
- to achieve a pilot scale (1 - 50 Kgs) manufacture of the Si-BAS's textile finishing matrix formulation (milestone 4);
- to design and construct a pilot-scale prototype biocidal textile treatment bed system with a footprint of 0.5 - 2.0 m² capable of operating with a system flow capacity of 25 - 50 m³/hr (milestone 5);
- produce a pilot-scale test facility capable of providing flow capacity of 25-50 m³/hr and to accommodate a textile treatment bed of 0.5 - 2.0 m² with a target cost of EUR 20 per 1000 m³ treated (milestone 5).
Expected impact of the project
The dispersion of untreated ballast water from ships today represents the fourth largest threat to the world's oceans. The main driver behind the 2016 legislation is as a direct result of environmental and ecological concerns. Furthermore, the EC has a political obligation to ensure that the global enforceable IMO legislation is complied with across the EU. Equally, it has to represent the EU on the world stage and police all nine EU nations who operate their BWT in the EU region.
The ATLANTIS product will have lower capital costs, reduced operating costs and will be easier to retrofit to existing ships. The ATLANTIS BWT system will satisfy the needs of the shipping industry by supplying a product that will enable them to continue trading whilst complying with the new legislation.
Project website: http://www.projectatlantis.eu/index.php
This summary highlights the projects scope and progress made by consortium partners during the first reporting period
The need
Ship's ballast water contains a variety of living organisms, some of which survive transit. When ballast water is discharged, these invasive marine organisms can thrive in their new environments. The environment's natural habitat can be threatened and native species can be preyed upon. The economy and livelihood of local communities dependent upon the invaded area's biodiversity can be threatened.
The introduction of invasive marine organisms into new environments has been identified as the fourth largest threat to the world's oceans. The cost of controlling invasive species and repairing the damage caused in 2008 to the European Union (EU) was estimated to be between EUR 9.6 to EUR 12.7 billion. The estimated global cost is much higher at EUR 80 billion annually.
With 80 % of the world's commodities being transported by sea, there is an environmental and commercial need to develop an effective solution for the dispersal of untreated ballast water.
To facilitate the global prevention of invasive marine species, the IMO adopted the International Convention for the Control and Management of Ship's Ballast Water and Sediment. This convention requires ships to install ballast water treatment (BWT) systems and to employ best practises in managing ballast water treatment.
From 2016, all new ships will require BWT and all existing ships will have a further five years to retrofit a BWT system. In September 2009, six BWT systems met the requirements of the IMO's approval procedures. Several different approaches to these treatments have been used including ultraviolet (UV) technology, deoxygenation and the use of active substances. These first generation systems due to various limitations have sold 23 units globally. Limitations found on current BWT systems include:
- capital outlay for current BWT systems is too high;
- the storage and handling of dangerous chemicals;
- ineffective removal of target organisms;
- size of the BWT system can be too large for retrofitting existing ships;
- some of these systems require trained staff to operate them;
- all these BWT systems deploy several methods of treatments to achieve sufficient cleaning.
Furthermore, the shipping industry is concerned that existing BWT systems are only designed to meet these new IMO regulations and do not consider the needs of the end-user. Flag administrators in the interests of their own shipping industries are delaying ratification of the convention until further development of BWT technology. The limitations of existing BWT technology are not only failing to meet the requirement of the shipping industry but are also delaying international action to prevent damage caused by invasive species.
The solution
The ATLANTIS project proposes to research and develop the first BWT technology to use functional textiles in a treatment bed as a delivery platform for multiple biocidal active substances (BAS). This BWT system will efficiently target and incapacitate a full spectrum of marine organisms < 50 µm. There is an increasing belief that the use of active substances will become a condition to comply with the convention due to other methods being less effective.
There is a risk that active substances in ballast water may still be toxic at the time of discharge. To solve this issue, BAS's will be covalently bonded to non-woven textiles creating a functional textile which will act as a contact-biocide delivery platform. The BAS's tethered by a chemical bond will present functional biocidal groups which can lethally interact with microorganisms without risking the release of active substances into the water.
To meet the market's need for a cost effective BWT system, an enabling platform technology (Alexium's reactive Surface treatment (RST) process) has been identified to create the biocidal functionalised textile solution. To enable the use of the RST process, a number of technological breakthroughs need to be overcome.
Scientific objectives
Our scientific objectives are set to measure our progress and success in the applied research of the project. These include:
- to determine synthetic pathways and reaction conditions for 5 - 10 Si-BAS's (milestone 1);
- to determine the biocidal efficacy in terms of LC90 and minimum contact time of the Si-BAS's compounds against IMO regulations (milestone 1);
- to determine and optimise MW power and exposure time to facilitate grafting of Si-BAS's (milestone 3);
- to access the stability and durability of the Si-BAS's activated textiles in saline water (salinity range 3-32 PSU) under flow conditions of 50 m³/hr over a 12 month period (milestone 2);
- to demonstrate the efficacy of the benchtop biocidal textile treatment bed system against target organisms (G8) at a flow rate of 2.5 m³/hr over a 6 month test period (milestone 4);
- to demonstrate efficacy of the pilot-scale system in achieving water quality to meet IMO D2 standards at a flow of up to 50 m³/hr (milestone 5).
Technical objectives
Our technological objectives outline the developments we need to achieve in order to deliver our prototype ballast water treatment system. These are:
- to create a range of 5 - 10 Si-BAS's that are able to form hypervalent silicon compounds which are to be used with the Alexium RST grafting mechanisms (milestone 1);
- 3 - 5 Si-BAS's textile finishing microemulsion matrixes with droplet sizes 20 - 100 nm (milestone 2);
- to specify 3 - 10 nonwoven materials suitable for application in BWT bed system (milestone 2 and 3);
- to design and construct one to three textile treatment bed configurations providing the required biocide contact time versus flow parameters as determined by computational fluid dynamics (CFD) analysis (milestone 2 and 3);
- to construct a bench top test platform with a flow capacity of 2.5 m³/hr (milestone 4);
- to achieve a pilot scale (1 - 50 Kgs) manufacture of the Si-BAS's textile finishing matrix formulation (milestone 4);
- to design and construct a pilot-scale prototype biocidal textile treatment bed system with a footprint of 0.5 - 2.0 m² capable of operating with a system flow capacity of 25 - 50 m³/hr (milestone 5);
- produce a pilot-scale test facility capable of providing flow capacity of 25-50 m³/hr and to accommodate a textile treatment bed of 0.5 - 2.0 m² with a target cost of EUR 20 per 1000 m³ treated (milestone 5).
Expected impact of the project
The dispersion of untreated ballast water from ships today represents the fourth largest threat to the world's oceans. The main driver behind the 2016 legislation is as a direct result of environmental and ecological concerns. Furthermore, the EC has a political obligation to ensure that the global enforceable IMO legislation is complied with across the EU. Equally, it has to represent the EU on the world stage and police all nine EU nations who operate their BWT in the EU region.
The ATLANTIS product will have lower capital costs, reduced operating costs and will be easier to retrofit to existing ships. The ATLANTIS BWT system will satisfy the needs of the shipping industry by supplying a product that will enable them to continue trading whilst complying with the new legislation.
Project website: http://www.projectatlantis.eu/index.php