A ballast tank is a compartment within a boat that holds water. A boat may have a single ballast tank near its center or multiple ballast tanks, typically on either side. The water in the tank is lifted as the boat rocks. The weight of the water pushes down on the raised side of the rocking boat and thereby resists the rocking motion. This stabilizes the boat. Ballast may mean: Look up ballast in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. ...
Cross section of a boat with a single ballast tank at the bottom
A ballast tank can be filled or emptied in order to adjust the amount of ballast force. Ships designed for carrying large amounts of cargo must take on ballast water for proper stability when travelling with light loads and discharge water when heavily laden with cargo. Small sailboats designed to be light weight for being pulled behind automobiles on trailers are often designed with ballast tanks that can be emptied when the boat is removed from the water. Image File history File links Ballast_tank_boat_cross_section. ...
Environmental Concerns
Ballast water taken in to a tank from one body of water and discharged in another body of water can introduce invasive species of aquatic life. The discharge of water from ballast tanks has been responsible for the introduction of species that cause environmental and economic damage. For example, zebra mussels in the Great Lakes of the United States. A body of water is any significant natural pool of water such as an ocean, a lake, or a river, covering the Earth or another planet. ... It has been suggested that Invasive plants be merged into this article or section. ... Binomial name Dreissena polymorpha Pallas, 1771 The Zebra mussel (Dreissena polymorpha) is a bivalve mussel native to freshwater lakes of southeast Russia. ... The Great Lakes from space The Great Lakes are a group of five large lakes on or near the United States-Canadian border. ...
To control their weight, submarines are equipped with ballasttanks, which can be filled with either outside water or pressurized air.
For general submersion or surfacing, submarines use the forward and aft tanks, called Main BallastTanks or MBTs, which are opened and completely filled with water to submerge, or filled by pressurized air to surface.
Depth control tanks can be located either near the submarine's centre of gravity, or separated along the submarine body to prevent affecting trim.
Ballast water that is not contaminated with oil remnants can be discharged into the sea without any processing; however, such discharge may introduce non-indigenous or nuisance species at the location of discharge.
Future ballast water treatment volumes are expected to decrease with the increased use of double-hulled tankers, which can segregate ballast water in the space between the cargo tanks and the outer hull.
Ballast water is pumped from the tankers to the large process tanks #92, #93, and #94; these tanks are commonly referred to as the 90s tanks, or gravity separation tanks.
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