Kuraray's New Ballast Water Management System for Ships Protects Marine Ecosystems

Kuraray Co., a major Japanese chemical company, announced on June 19, 2012, that its new "Microfade" ballast water management system is now available for purchase. The new system, with a treatment-rated capacity of 125 to 4,000 cubic meters per hour, was approved for certification by the Government of Japan on May 30, 2012.

Ballast water is the seawater taken into special tanks of ships as a weight to provide them stability. In general, the water is taken on in one country and then discharged into the seas of other countries. As a result, the issue of discharged water introducing non-indigenous marine species that reproduce in non-native environments and have a negative impact on their ecosystems has become a problem globally. The International Maritime Organization (IMO) adopted the Ballast Water Management Convention in February 2004, which requires all ships to install a ballast water management system within a certain period of time.

The Microfade technology features a multi-phase system that consists of filtration and sterilization processes. Its unique, high-precision filter removes most organisms in the ballast water, while the remaining plankton and other organisms are sterilized with the use of active substances in low concentrations. The system is also power efficient, saves space, and provides stable performance regardless of water conditions such as quality, temperature, salinity, and turbidity.

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