The State of the Art of Wastewater Treatment on Cruise Ships

Abstract

The marine pollution caused by cruise ships nowadays attracts increased attention. With regard to the aboard wastewater management the considerably fluctuating wastewater flows, the changing emission standards subject to the sea area and new requirements for nutrient removal demand great care in terms of plant design and operation. In this regard, based on the findings of the R&D project NAUTEK an updated overview of the best available techniques for wastewater treatment aboard cruise liners can be provided. However, the investigations conducted in this project showed that weaknesses in the wastewater treatment primarily can be traced back to shortcomings in plant operation. In terms of the plant design the integration of the biological nitrogen removal represents a major challenge.