Patent ID: 7618536

Claim:
A method of eliminating living organisms from ballast water of a marine vessel, comprising: injecting ballast water into a container; adding an organic substance into the ballast water; heterotrophic organisms, already disposed in the ballast water, reproducing and consuming the organic substance, the heterotrophic organisms reproducing as a result of the consumed organic substance to increase in numbers compared to before the addition of the organic substance; the increased number of heterotrophic organisms substantially reducing an oxygen concentration in the ballast water compared to the oxygen concentration of untreated ballast water; adding an amount of organic substance to the ballast water so that the oxygen is consumed by the heterotrophic organisms when anaerobic organisms already disposed in the ballast water run out of the organic substance; the anaerobic organisms in the ballast water dying due to an absence of the organic substance in the ballast water; and aerobic organisms in the ballast water dying due to an absence of vital oxygen in the ballast water.