GSI
has established superlative freshwater ballast treatment evaluation capabilities at three scales--bench, land-based, and
on board ship. Each scale is dedicated to addressing specific evaluation
objectives. These include:
GSI Bench-Scale
Tests
o Range finding for effective treatment dose against diverse freshwater taxa and water quality conditions;
o Generation of freshwater relevant chemical degradation curves; and
o Estimation of residual toxicity given diverse freshwater taxa and water quality conditions.
GSI
Land-Based Tests
o Pre-certification testing, i.e., operational and biological performance (including residual toxicity) status-testing given scale-up and a range of challenge conditions; and
o Certification/verification testing, i.e., formal assessment of performance against IMO and other discharge standards.
GSI
Shipboard Tests
o Confirmation of biological and operational treatment performance as expected
in the ship environment;
o U.S. Coast Guard Shipboard Technology Evaluation Program (STEP) testing;
o Shipboard type approval testing;
o Ship discharge monitoring; and
o Methods development.
The GSI awards its independent status-testing services to developers of ballast treatment systems and processes determined to be promising. Applications for GSI research services are available online. GSI status-testing is performed at the scale appropriate to the state of development of the target treatment system.
To
assure relevancy of test output, GSI test protocols
are as consistent with the IMO Convention and federal and state requirements as practicable.
In particular, bench testing directly supports IMO G9 evaluations,
and land-based testing directly supports IMO G8 evaluations.
GSI
tests are third party assessments. They are completely independent
of any vested interest in outcomes. The GSI tests are supported
by general project funds which derive from federal and state agency
grants, Great Lakes port contributions, and in-kind contributions
by the local government and universities. None of these funds
come to the GSI with any strings (other than public disclosure).
© Great Ships Initiative 2010.
