Development of the method for ballast water treatment on sea vessels for the protection of marine ecosystems from the inroduction of alien speciesCvetković, Martina (Avtor) Kompare, Boris (Mentor) Steinman, Franci (Komentor) Turk, Valentina (Komentor) environment protectionthesysinvasive speciesballast water managementballast water treatment systemsInternational Convention for the Control and Management of Ships Ballast Water and Sedimentshydrodynamic cavitationseparationzooplanktonmarine bacteriaBallast water is considered as one of the most important factors of the worldwide transfer of invasive alien species in aquatic ecosystems. With the aim of preventing and stopping the spread of the transfer of invasive organisms in aquatic ecosystems and in accordance with IMO’s International Convention for the Control and Management of Ships Ballast Water and Sediments, different systems for ballast water treatment have been developed so far. While existing technologies for ballast water treatment have their own advantages and disadvantages, the application of hydrodynamic cavitation (HC), successfully used technology in many different areas with the aim of destroying the organisms or disinfection, remained insufficiently researched. As a part of the doctoral thesis, the detailed research of possibilities for use of hydrodynamic cavitation in ballast water treatment area was conducted. Based on the experiences with the hydrodynamic cavitation presented in the literature, three new pilot systems whose operation included combination of hydrodynamic cavitation as a main step of the treatment and separation as a pre-treatment phase were constructed. The pilot system which showed the highest effectiveness was chosen for the continuation of the experiments to determine the impact on destroying the selected marine organisms. Biological experiments were performed to evaluate the morphological changes and viability of the representatives of zooplankton (copepods), Artemia salina cysts, and the growth potential of marine bacteria after the exposure to the treatment in different duration. The results of the tests confirmed a significant efficiency of the treatment on all tested organisms.[M. Cvetković]20162018-10-12 11:17:39Doktorska disertacija104829sl