Iranian-Made Nanosystem for Ships' Ballast Water Management

Ballast water is the sea water taken into the ballast tanks of the ship to maintain ship's stability. Larger ships need more stability and ballast water tanks. 

According to the website of the National Nano Headquarters of Iran, engineer Hosseini, the managing director of an Iranian technical company pointed to a ballast water management system (BWMS) as one of the knowledge-based products of their company and said, “In order to transport goods such as oil, minerals and other shipments, ships need to use several systems to maintain their stability and maneuverability during the long journey, and one of these systems is BWMS, based on which the ships in both states of without carrying a cargo or unloading part of the cargo in the port adjust the ballast water for an effective and safe operation.”

He considered the ballast water to be the water that is collected in order to control the pressures on a ship and its stability, adding, “The ballast water contains various biological species and organisms of bacteria, viruses, plants and coastal organisms that are generally transported by ships over long distances. They are transported and when they are discharged, they introduce hostile species into the new ecosystem. This water can lead to water pollution.”

“Therefore, the conventions related to maritime safety and environmental protection have put forward requirements for the use of purified water in order to maintain the stablity of ships and obliged governments to use purified water for this purpose from 2024. From 2024, all eligible vessels will be required to comply with this protocol,” Hosseini continued.

According to the managing director of that Iranian company the convention will be very strict, so that if the ships violate the relevant requirements, they could face arrest.

Knowing that, he said that they had the idea to produce a system to manage the ballast water.

“We had a patented technology that we used in the oil and gas field. Followig conducting preliminary research we realized that the technology can be used in the marine field as well. From the point of view of knowledge-based companies, the maritime sector is behind the oil and gas sector, and most of the companies in the maritime sector operate as exploiters. Therefore, we used the patented technology to solve the problem of purifying the ballast water of the ships and we also obtained interesting results,” the engineer said.

“To commercialize this technology, we needed a license from the International Maritime Organization, which had two steps. We passed the first stage which was "Basic" last year and got the license for the first step. We have also taken action for the second stage, which is the final, and the judging has been done, and I hope the results will be known in two months,” Hosseini concluded.

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