BENCH-SCALE TESTS OF THE NEWMAN ZONE OS BALLAST WATER DEOXYGENATION TREATMENT

Abstract

This technical report presents findings from bench-scale tests evaluating the performance of the Newman Zone OS Ballast Water Deoxygenation Treatment, hereafter Newman Zone OS, developed by RNAS Remediation Products of Brooklyn Center, Minnesota, USA. Bench-scale evaluation began in November 2022 and ended in December 2022 at the Lake Superior Research Institute (LSRI) of the University of Wisconsin-Superior (UWS) in Superior, Wisconsin, USA. The treatment consisted of Newman Zone OS, a concentrated solution which uses a Vitamin C-based chemistry with added food grade buffers and catalysts, to quickly produce anaerobic water. Following a retention period, the anaerobic water is then rapidly oxygenated through the addition of an oxidizing agent (i.e., hydrogen peroxide), potentially destroying any remaining microorganisms. The technology would treat a ship’s ballast water as it is taken onboard the vessel and reoxygenate the water prior to being discharged to a receiving body of water in a Great Lakes port. Water-only, aquatic degradation experiments were conducted in lab water and amended lab water to assess whether or not organic carbon, suspended solids and UV-transmittance had an effect on the Newman Zone OS treatment. Due to elevated residual concentrations of hydrogen peroxide following reoxygenation of treated water, dose effectiveness and chronic residual toxicity testing were not conducted.