Zebra Mussels Research Paper

The Laurentian Great Lakes contain twenty percent of the worlds freshwater and due to recent human interaction they have become attacked by many Invasive species. In fact, there have been at least 162 unintentionally introduced species established in the Great Lakes (Vásárhelyi & Thomas, 2003). These species have caused numerous economic and environmental problems. Moreover, “invasive species control costs the Great Lakes Basin an estimated 5.7 billion dollars a year” (Pimentel, 2005). The mass spreading of Zebra Mussels, which are an invasive species, have contributed to these problems. “Zebra mussels have affected surface water-dependent electric power generation and drinking water treatment facilities since their arrival in North America

This solution appears to be successful, although many would oppose to such a method as these chemicals could find their ways into fish and ultimately do just as much damage to the water as the invasive species themselves. These chemicals could also speed up the process of corrosion in the hulls as well as having chemicals onboard a ship could lead to possible HAZMAT situations which can be very costly and time consuming. A chemical that has been deemed as an effective treatment agent for ballast water is Hydrogen Peroxide. When used in low concentrations this chemical would kill plankton inside the ship but would not be harmful once released from the ship as it would be diluted among a greater amount of water (Kuzirian et al, 2001). Along with these chemicals, ozonation has been investigated as a plausible means for treating ballast water. This process requires no chemicals to be stored upon the ship, which would be favorable to the shipping companies. (Oemcke & Leeuwen,

Heat treatment is a very viable option as not many changes would be necessary to the infrastructure of the ship. Short exposures at temperatures at or exceeding 40 C was an effective means of killing these species (Tsolaki & Diamadopoulos, 2010). “Passing the water through the pump increased the kill rate but increasing the temperature above 55 °C did not improve the heat treatment’s efficacy” (Quilez-Badia et. al, 2008). Waste heat created by the ships engines could be the most feasible means of treating this water. This water would also serve as a coolant for the engine, allowing the ships to accomplish two tasks with one fluid. An alternative heating treatment is that of a continuous microwave system. “Test results indicated that microwave treatment can be an effective tool for ballast water treatment, and current high treatment costs notwithstanding, this technique can be added as a supplemental technology to the palette of existing treatment methods” (Boldor et al,