BioThema aims to be in the front of luminescence research and as a part of that work BioThema has collaboration projects with several companies.

One of these is Wallenius Water AB, located in central Stockholm, a world leader in environmental technology. Wallenius Water was founded in 1996 and is dedicated to innovative technology and product development in the area of water treatment. Wallenius Water has interests in many of the applications in the field, but one of the most interesting is the cleaning of marine ballast water. Ballast water is a potential threat to the ocean ecosystem, as organisms from one part of the world are transported to another part, in the ballast water of large ocean going ships. The release of ballast water at the port of destination often causes ecological disturbances in the environment, where species with no natural predators increase in numbers, sometimes with dramatic consequences for the local wildlife, and also disruptive effects on marine harbour actvities .

Johan Duprez

“At the present time ships do not have to clean their ballast water before it is released, however The United Nations Maritime Organisation has initiated a process that will soon gain legal force, when a minimum of 30 UN countries and 35% of of the worlds shipping tonnage  have signed up to a new convention. This will mean that a ballast water cleaning system will have to be installed on all ships”, say Johan Duprez, Vice President at Wallenius Water .

The technology Wallenius water uses is Advanced Oxidation Technology (AOT). It is a chemical free system, using UV-light to create free radicals to eliminate microorganisms. Larger organisms can be removed by filtration.

The collaboration with BioThema aims to increase the efficiency and decrease the energy use, ‘adaptive efficiency’ as Johan Duprez calls it. By using ATP to measure biomass and coordinating  it with other factors,  the power of the AOT system could be adapted for maximum effect at the lowest cost.

 

Detail of  a device using AOT

 Visit www.walleniuswater.se  for more information about Wallenius Water and AOT.