The invention of jointly protecting ships and the environment

2002/02/01 Elhuyar Zientzia Iturria: Elhuyar aldizkaria

• Ingurumena

Unloaded boats fill ballast tanks with water to gain weight and stabilize. They release water by docking and, along with water, many live machines. Strange species generate great ecological problems and ships that make long trips are asked to change ballast water before their arrival at the port. But few do it because it takes time and can destabilize the container.

Regardless of ecological problems, Japanese engineers propose a method to combat the oxidation of ballast tanks: adding nitrogen to water. Enriching water with nitrogen is easy and cheap and has yielded good results. Coincidentally, this method serves to prevent ecological pollution, since without oxygen most species die.

A biologist at the Aquarium of the Californian Bay of Monterry analyzes the influence of this treatment on three marine animals. Specifically, he has seen that the larvae of crabs, mussels and worms that have become invaders in the United States die in two or three days. The duration of the cruises is weeks. It does not work for bacteria, but it is the beginning.