E. Nebot-Sanz

• PhD
• Senior Researcher at Universidad de Cádiz

Compliance Monitoring Devices (CMDs) are instruments indicating if the 10-50 μm organism abundance in ballast water complies with the International Maritime Organizations' discharge standard. For that, they trade the presumed accuracy of detailed methods for speed and simplicity. In an experiment using UV-treated water, four CMDs were compared, usi...

Treatment with ultraviolet (UV) light is a common option for inactivating waterborne organisms. The mercury vapor lamps conventionally used as a source of UV-C light for water disinfection are eventually replaced by light emitter diodes (LEDs) in the middle term due to their higher efficiency and lack of hazardous materials. Nonetheless, biological...

Ultraviolet (UV) radiation is a well-implemented process for water disinfection. The development of emergent UV sources, such as light-emitting diodes (LEDs), has afforded new possibilities for advanced oxidation processes. The emission wavelength is considered to be an important factor for photo-chemical processes in terms of both biological damag...

Harmful algal blooms (HABs) in coastal areas similarly impact both ecosystems and human health. The translocation of phytoplankton species via maritime transport can potentially promote the growth of HABs in coastal systems. Accordingly, ballast water must be disinfected. The main goal of this study is to assess the effectiveness of different emerg...

The Ballast Water Management Convention (BWMC) establishes limits for viable organisms in discharged ballast water. UV-based ballast water management systems (BMWS) are among the most common, especially those with low pressure (LP) and medium pressure (MP) mercury lamps. An interesting alternative to mercury lamps could be UV LEDs that have been de...

Ultraviolet (UV) treatment is widely used for water disinfection. The recent development and improvement of the light emitting diodes (LEDs) in the UVC range makes them an alternative to the traditional mercury vapor UV lamps in the middle or long term. Determining the UV intensity applied by a reactor is essential for evaluating its efficacy. Alth...

The Ballast Water Management Convention (BWMC) establishes limits regarding the permissible number of viable organisms in discharged ballast water. Ozone as a ballast water treatment is interesting because it can be generated in-situ and has strong oxidant power. Additionally, some oxidants can be formed in reaction with seawater, especially bromin...

Comparison of microalgae inactivation, using Tetraselmis suecia as a model, between conventional heating (water bath) and ohmic heating (alternating electric current).

Harmful algal blooms in coastal areas can significantly impact a water source. Microorganisms such as cyanobacteria and associated pathogenic bacteria may endanger an ecosystem and human health by causing significant eco-hazards. This study assesses the efficacy of two different reagents, H2O2 and S2O82−, as (pre-)treatment options for algae-laden...

The Ballast Water Management Convention (BWMC) establishes limits for viable organisms in discharged ballast water. However, organisms smaller than 10 μm are not considered in this regulation although they represent, in some regions, the majority of the phytoplankton organisms in marine water. The objective in this study is to assess three photosyn...

Due to the increasing number of ecosystem invasions with the introduction of exogenous species via ballast water, the International Maritime Organization adopted the Ballast Water Convention (BWMC). The BWMC establishes standards for the concentration of viable organisms in a ballast water discharge. Ultraviolet (UV) irradiation is commonly used fo...

The development of technologically advanced recirculation aquaculture systems (RAS) implies the reuse of water in a high recirculation rate (>90%). One of the most important phases for water management in RAS involves water disinfection in order to avoid proliferation of potential pathogens and related fish diseases. Accordingly, different approach...

In this paper, European maritime cruise ship traffic of 1,031 ports visited by 209 cruises is evaluated with different mathematical tools. Through an innovative ecological analogy, the diversity of ships in every port has been calculated using Simpson, Shannon, Margalef, and Berger-Parker diversity indexes and Automatic Identification System data f...

Meeting the recent biological standards established by the Ballast Water Management Convention requires the application of ballast water treatment systems; ultraviolet irradiation is a frequently used option. However, organisms can repair the damage caused by ultraviolet irradiation primarily with photo-repair mechanisms that are dependent on the a...

BACKGROUND Industrial and commercial activities may require seawater disinfection for which ultraviolet (UV) irradiation is a widely used technology. Ultraviolet devices are commonly used in laboratory to evaluate the disinfection efficacy, looking for the highest control of the experimental conditions such as collimated beam reactor or continuous...

Over the years, industrial activities that generate high salinity effluents have been intensifying; this has relevant potential for causing organic and microbiological pollution which damages both human and ocean health. The development of new regulations, such as ballast water convention, encourage the development of treatment systems that can be...

Ballast water in ocean transportation is an important vector for species transferring between areas not connected naturally. Ultraviolet irradiation is a common treatment to inactivate organisms in ballast water. A primary disadvantage inherent to ultraviolet treatment is photoreactivation. This study evaluates the possibility to enhance the effica...

Cruise tourism industry has experienced significant global growth in recent years in terms of new passengers, fleet size, ports visited, and economic value. Therefore, the main environmental impacts resulting from this activity such as exhaust emissions, wastewater discharges, and solid waste should be researched since most of them can be released...

The development of advanced photochemical processes has experienced the emergence of a promising alternative for water disinfection, different from traditional methods. The applicability has primarily been investigated in drinking and wastewater; however, new challenges related to microbiological control in marine waters necessitate evaluating the...

The cruise tourism industry has experienced significant growth in recent years in terms of new passengers and fleet, undergoing a growing popularization process and acquiring enormous importance as an economic factor throughout the world. In addition, the modern cruise industry is also one of the most prominent examples of globalization, with ports...

Cruise ship wastewater discharges are pollution sources towards the marine environment that are poorly characterized. In this study, wastewater samples from cruise ships have been obtained during repair works in a shipyard. Different organic pollutants have been analyzed and their concentrations were similar to those in urban wastewaters for pharma...

The importance of seawater treatment in order to avoid microbiological pollution related to aquaculture or ballast water management has increased during the last few years. Bacterial indicators used for the evaluation of different disinfection treatments are usually related with both waste and drinking water, these standards are not usual microorga...

Shrimp farming is one of the most important activities in Latin American countries. It contributes both economically and socially to a large population [1]. These farms are exponentially growing and fill extensive coastal and mangrove areas in several countries, as in the case of Ecuador. The occurrence of several pathogens in pond water is an impo...

Cruise tourism has experienced in recent years an important growth both in the size of its ships and in the number of transported passengers. These vessels produce a large amount of wastewater that has not been studied in depth. International convention MARPOL (IMO 73/78), allow the discharges to the ocean of these wastewater if they are treated (3...

Seawater treatment is increasingly required due to industrial activities that use substantial volumes of seawater in their processes. The shipping industry and the associated management of a ship's ballast water are currently considered a global challenge for the seas. Related to that, the suitability of an Electrochemical Advanced Oxidation Proces...

Assessing the disinfection of ballast water and its compliance with international standards requires determining the size, viability, and concentration of planktonic organisms. The FlowCAM (Flow Cytometer and Microscope) is an Imaging Flow Cytometry designed to obtain the particle concentration, images, and quantitative morphologic information. The...

Shrimp (Litopenaeus vannamei) farming is an important economic activity in several countries. Pathogens in shrimp farms and its effluents pose a potential hazard for both humans and shrimps. Wild strains of bacteria were characterized in a shrimp farm, and Klebsiella pneumoniae was chosen as a good indicator due to its presence in the pond and the...

Evaluating the inactivation of pathogenic microorganisms found in the waters of the shrimp farms by means of Advanced Oxidation Processes.

The International Ballast Water Management Convention (BWMC) will entry into force on September-2017 due to the global challenge caused by alien aquatic species. According to BWMC guidelines, implementation of ballast water treatment systems will be required. In order to assess technologies for ballast water disinfection, different microbial indica...

Water contained on ships is employed in the majority of activities on a vessel; therefore, it is necessary to correctly manage through marine water treatments. Among the main water streams generated on vessels, ballast water appears to be an emerging global challenge (especially on cargo ships) due to the transport of invasive species and the signi...

Cruise tourism industry has experienced an important increase in the last years, multiplying by four the amount of people spending their holidays on board of these vessels. The amounts of wastes of this industry have also increased; part of them are directly discharged from vessels along their routes. ACTP index is proposed to assess the environmen...

Ultraviolet disinfection is a frequent option for eliminating viable organisms in ballast water to fulfill international and national regulations. The objective of this work is to evaluate the reduction of microalgae able to reproduce after UV irradiation, based on their growth features. A monoculture of microalgae Tisochrysis lutea was irradiated...

Cruise tourism globally, has experienced exponential growth in recent years, with the coasts of Europe one of the most attractive destinations in the world. The number of people traveling on board these vessels makes them genuine floating cities, representing a new source of pollution in the oceans. The dispersion of information and data available,...

La creciente actividad del turismo de crucero a nivel mundial, exige un mayor control de los impactos ambientales en este sector, incluida la gestión del agua en el buque. Hasta la fecha se está haciendo un control parcelado, debido a las diferentes normativas vigentes que hacen referencia por separado a los distintos tipos de aguas: aguas de lastr...

In this work, a geostatistical analysis of multivariate character is performed, which is based on the distance between establishments affected by the European Seveso Directive and the type of vulnerable receptors categorized as human, environmental or material. This study reinforces the importance of including the value of proximity, besides others...

Biofouling is a complex and important problem in cooling systems using water from natural sources such as lakes, rivers and sea. The first stage of biofilm formation is the colonization and uncontrolled microbial growth on surfaces. The aim of this study was to evaluate and to compare the effectiveness of different antifouling treatments in a heat...

In the most of the cases the organisms released by ballast water have found a way that enables them to develop and grow into a new habitat, becoming invasive species. It can generate large impacts, endangering the ecosystem and human activities. The port of Algeciras, a leading global port, assumes great importance in this aspect. Due to its strate...

Since the entry into force of the first Seveso Directive in Europe, the concept of preventing major accidents due to hazardous substances has evolved differently depending on the particular transposition of each Member State to their own legal system. Additionally, each region with responsibility for industrial safety and civil protection has contr...

Studies on the development and evolution of anaerobic digestion (AD) pretreatments are nowadays becoming widespread, due to the outstanding benefits that these processes could entail in the management of sewage sludge. Production of sewage sludge in wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs) is becoming an extremely important environmental issue. The work...

Background Ultraviolet disinfection systems used for treating ballast water have several strict requirements such as short exposure time or high disinfection efficacy. Disinfection can be enhanced by a photocatalytic system triggered by ultraviolet light, leading to a reduction in the exposure time necessary and thus a general improvement in the tr...

The fouling is one of the main problems affecting industrial heat exchangers using water from natural sources (lakes, rivers and sea) as the cooling agent. Negative consequences of the fouling formation are the reduction in heat transfer, loss of cooling efficiency, premature deterioration of facilities and increased operation and maintenance costs...

Advanced Thermal Hydrolysis (ATH) is intended to be applied as pretreatment of the anaerobic digestion (AD) of sewage sludge. Under most of the studied operating conditions, ATH improved TH results regarding sludge solubilization and dewaterability. The ultimate results show that, at lower temperature and lower operation time than conventional TH,...

Innovative disinfection technologies are being studied for seawater, seeking a viable alternative to chlorination. This study proposes the use of H2O2/UV254 and photo-Fenton as disinfection treatment in seawater. The irradiations were carried out using a sunlight simulator (Suntest) and a cylindrical UV reactor. The efficiency of the treatment was...

It now is widely recognised that the global temperature is rising, a phenomenon which could alter the effects of pollution on wildlife. In order to assess the role of temperature and exposure to chlorine due to cooling water discharges, a battery of metabolic, oxidative stress and histological parameters were evaluated in Mytilus galloprovincialis...

Exposure to ultraviolet radiation is a disinfection process that is used worldwide for the treatment of wastewater in order to minimize microbial contamination caused by wastewater discharge to natural waters. Once organisms have been exposed to ultraviolet radiation, they are able to repair the damage through two processes - dark repair and photor...

Abstr act Thermal hydrolysis (TH), with heating by injection of live steam, is an emergent pretreatment for the anaerobic digestion (AD) in the sludge line of wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs). TH usually operates at 170 ºC and 13 bar during 30 min, producing degradation of extracellular polymeric substances (EPS) and cell walls, thus making nutr...

In a framework of innovative redesign of wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs), the trend in managing sewage sludge is to recover energy and to exploit its chemical content throughout the sludge line, so that it could be considered as a valuable material rather than a waste. The thermal hydrolysis (TH) process, with heating by injection of live steam...

The aim of this work was to study in depth the behavior and optimization of a novel process, called advanced thermal hydrolysis (ATH), to determine its utility as a pretreatment (sludge solubilization) or postreatment (organic matter removal) for anaerobic digestion (AD) in the sludge line of wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs). ATH is based on a t...

Sewage discharge is a major source of pollution in marine environments. Urban wastewaters can directly enter marine environments carrying pathogen organisms, organic loads, and nutrients. Because marine sediments can act as the ultimate fate of a wide range of pollutants, environmental quality assessment in this compartment can help to identify pol...

Urban and industrial activities are major sources of pollution to marine environments. Sediments can act as sink and reservoir for a wide range of contaminants, including heavy metals. Environmental quality assessment in this compartment can provide useful information to control pollution in coastal areas. Lately, implementation of Environmental Le...

Disinfection studies with two pure strains of Escherichia coli ATCC 11229 and ATCC 15597 and real municipal wastewater were carried out at laboratory scale with a 10 W low pressure ultraviolet lamp in an ultraviolet (UV) disinfection system with recirculation of the liquid. A double first order kinetic model was established to fit the ultraviolet d...

Radioactivity levels in aquatic environments can be assessed through the study of superficial sediments. Anthropogenic activities may alter radioactivity levels leading to the anomalous accumulation of natural radionuclides in coastal areas. In this work, marine sediments from a significant area subjected to severe industrial development were colle...

In an industrial seawater cooling system, the effects of three different antifouling treatments, viz. sodium hypochlorite (NaClO), aliphatic amines (Mexel®432) and UV radiation, on the characteristics of the fouling formed were evaluated. For this study a portable pilot plant, as a side-stream monitoring system and seawater cooling system, was empl...

The sublethal effects of two antifoulants currently used in power plant cooling systems were assessed in the common mussel Mytilus galloprovincialis. The concentrations of sodium hypochlorite (NaClO) and an alkyl amine surfactant (Mexel432) assayed, were within the range of those currently discharged by power plants into receiving waters. Enzymatic...

Supercritical Water Oxidation (SCWO) processes have been studied by numerous researchers. The effectiveness of this approach to treat a wide variety of wastes has been proved and the kinetics involved in some cases have been described. Phenol is commonly present in industrial wastewaters and it is extremely toxic. Hence, phenol is a model pollutant...

Mexel(R)432 is an anionic surfactant used as biocide in the cooling water system of power plants for biofouling reduction. Refrigeration waters from power plants do not usually follow, prior to their discharge to sea, any treatment aimed to eliminate biocides and this can have negative consequences on the aquatic fauna nearby. The effects of differ...

Industrial wastes have a substantial impact on coastal environments. Therefore, to evaluate the impact of cooling water discharges from coastal power plants, we studied the kinetics of the degradative processes and the ecotoxicity of two antifouling products: (1) a classic antifouling product; sodium hypochlorite (NaClO) and (2) an alternative one;...

It has been trying to summarize the knowledge obtained by our research team in the field of biofouling related with the power stations cooling water systems. A portable pilot plant has been used in order to carry out in-situ experimental studies as it simulates the condenser performance and also monitorize and characterize the biofouling developtme...

The time-course stress responses (0, 1, 2, and 7 d) was assessed in plasmatic, branchial and renal parameters of juveniles Solea senegalensis exposed to different concentrations of the antifouling sodium hypochlorite (0.1, 0.2, and 0.5mgL(-1)). These stress responses were only assessed for the total length of exposure (7d) at the lowest NaClO conce...

The simulation of Supercritical Water Oxidation (SCWO) is a crucial step in the process scale-up. Many attempts have been conducted successfully in the SCWO simulation of model compounds. In this work, a pilot-scale supercritical water oxidation system has been used to study and simulate the oxidation of a complex industrial wastewater-cutting oil...

Hydrothermal oxidation in supercritical conditions, called SuperCritical Water Oxidation (SCWO), has been proved to be an effective process to treat a wide variety of industrial wastewater [1,2]. SCWO consists basically of the oxidation in aqueous medium at high temperature and pressure, above the critical point for pure water, usually ranging from...

Cutting fluids are widely used in metalworking industries for lubrication, cooling and removal of metal filings. Under most current legislations, used cutting fluids are considered hazardous wastes and conventional treatment methods are often environmentally unacceptable. In this work we avaluate the application of different technologies based on h...

The objective of this work was the determination of a global rate expression for the kinetics of the supercritical water oxidation (SCWO) of cutting fluid wastes generated in metal industries. SCWO experiments were carried out in a continuous flow reactor system using pure oxygen as the oxidant at a constant pressure of 25MPa. The temperature effec...

Supercritical Water Gasification (SCWG), in which supercritical water is not only a solvent for organic materials but also a reactant, is one of the applications for producing fuel from organic resources. In this way, besides the destruction of wastewaters, it is aimed to harness their energy potential by burning the gas effluent generated in the p...

In this paper, the toxicity of linear alkylbenzene sulfonate (LAS) was evaluated in the marine microalga Isochrysis galbana using data of growth inhibition toxicity tests at 96-h exposure time. Toxicity was examined in standard conditions and by means of the modification of two variables of the test media: (1) the dilution water and (2) the content...

Several industrial wastes are difficult to treat by Supercritical Water Oxidation SCWO since they are not soluble in water at room temperature, leading to different procedure problems related to pumping and preheating in the aqueous feed stream. This work describes a new system suitable to treat non water-soluble wastes in a pilot plant that includ...

Since 1999, the environmental monitoring of the waters in Rio River (Southwestern of Spain) has been realised. In the head of the estuary, the river is affected by the urban sewage of a population of 60.000 inhabitants. The discharge increases the nutrients concentrations in the aquatic system. In order to study the processes occurring in the river...

In this work a simple but comprehensive protocol for ultraviolet (UV) pilot plant studies was developed in order to meet the microbiological guidelines established by the Andalusian Regional Government (ARG) and Aguas de Jerez, Empresa Municipal, S.A. (AJEMSA). For this purpose, two pilot UV disinfection systems were tested at the municipal wastewa...

Several industrial wastes are difficult to treat by Supercritical Water Oxidation SCWO since they are not soluble in water at room temperature, leading to different procedure problems related to pumping and preheating in the aqueous feed stream. This work describes a new system suitable to treat non water-soluble wastes in a pilot plant that includ...

El acuífero de Sotogrande, con una superficie de unos 30 km2, está situado en el litoral mediterráneo de la provincia de Cádiz, cerca del límite con la provincia de Málaga. Se trata de un acuífero detrítico costero enclavado en una comarca cuya principal actividad económica es la turística, orientada a un sector de población de alto poder adquisiti...