Financial Support: Implementation of Consolidation and Management Changes at RTU, LiepU, Rezekne Technology Academy, and the Latvian Maritime Academy and Liepaja Maritime College to Promote Excellence in Higher Education, Science, and Innovation – RTU-PA-2024/1-0090
Heavy metal pollution is a serious environmental issue that threatens the existence of living organisms. Metals like mercury, lead, nickel, and chromium do not break down in the environment and accumulate, entering the food chain and posing a risk to human health. The Baltic Sea is one of the most polluted seas in the world, with a significant source of pollution coming from shipping, including ballast water, which can also contain corrosion products from metal filters. This pollution can be reduced by using electrostatic attraction, where heavy metal ions are attracted to surfaces with an opposite charge. Baltic coastal sand, which mainly consists of silicon dioxide, can be used as an effective, cheap, and environmentally friendly adsorbent. This material can be activated with UV or electron radiation, altering its surface potential and making it suitable for heavy metal capture, such as in ballast water purification.
Goal: The goal of the project is to develop a method for the separation of heavy metals from the ship’s ballast water to prevent the spread of heavy metals in the marine environment and reduce the pollution load to the sea, thus improving the ballast water treatment and the ship’s eco-efficiency
Duration: 2024 – 2026
The project research group consist of Riga Technical University Mechanical and Biomedical Engineering Institute (RTU MBEI) and RTU Latvian Maritime Academy (RTU LMA) in cooperation with University of Maryland (UM), USA.