Development of a Shipboard Ultrasonic Ballast Water Organism Control

Not Available This project develops and demonstrates an innovative and economic technology that uses ultrasonic energy to destroy organisms in a ship ballast system, thereby minimizing impact from alien species introduced from shipping. Phase 1 results successfully showed that organisms were rapidly destroyed by ultrasound at various frequencies and power densities. Although the mechanism of destruction in an ultrasonic bath is typically believed to be cavitation, results indicate that extremely high acceleration forces experienced by small particles in an ultrasound field create the primary mechanism of damage. Forces (on the order of 1000's of G¿s) cause individual organisms, or parts of an organism, to vibrate in resonance with sonic field, literally ripping the organisms apart. Phase 2 efforts will build on Phase 1 successes to design and build a full-scale prototype Shipboard Ultrasonic Ballast Water Organism Control (SUBWOC) system, which will include a ten-foot long section of pipe sheathed in piezo-ceramic ring sound transducers. Tasks include design and fabrication of the SUBWOC, bench testing and lab testing with 300-gallons of known organism cultures. Thereafter, sea trials will occur aboard commercial vessels by our Industry Partners, including Mason Navigation Company and Sause Brother¿s Tug & Barge.