Influence of temperature on the physiological responses of the bivalve Brachidontes striatulus and its significance in fouling control.

Heat treatment offers an alternative method of fouling control to chlorination in power plants. In order to optimise such a procedure it is important to understand the responses of fouling organisms to elevated water temperatures. In this paper we report results of experiments on the lethal and sub-lethal effects of temperature on the bivalve Brachidontes striatulus which is one of the major foulants in the process seawater heat exchangers of Madras Atomic Power Station located at Kalpakkam, on the east coast of India. The important physiological activities, such as, oxygen consumption, filtration rate, byssus thread production and faecal matter production were studied at temperatures varying from 20 to 38 degrees C. Three different size groups [3-5 mm shell length (group 1), 6-10 mm (group 2), 11-15 mm (group 3)] of B. striatulus were used for the experiments. The results showed physiological activities were maximum at 35 degrees C, minimum at 20 and 38 degrees C. Physiological activities increased with size except for byssus thread production, which did not show any trend. Survival times showed a reduction from 30 h at 39 degrees C to < 1 h at 45 degrees C and were independent of body size.     

Lethal and sub-lethal effects of chlorination on green mussel Perna viridis in the context of biofouling control in a power plant cooling water system.

Continuous chlorination is a widely followed cooling water treatment practice used in the power industry to combat biofouling. The green mussel Perna viridis is one of the dominant fouling organisms ( > 70%) in the Madras Atomic Power Station. Mortality pattern as well as physiological responses such as oxygen consumption, filtration rate, byssus thread production and faecal matter production of three different size groups of this mussel were studied at different chlorination concentrations. At 0.7 mg l(-1) residual chlorine, 3-4 cm size mussels showed 100% mortality in 553.3 h while 8-9 cm size group mussels died within 588 h. At a relatively high level of residual chlorine (9.1 mg l(-1)), 100% mortality in 3-4 cm and 8-9 cm size groups took 94 and 114 h, respectively. All physiological activities studied showed a progressive reduction as chlorine residuals were increased from 0 to 0.55 mg l(-1). The data indicated that the green mussel can sense a residual chlorine level as low as < 0.15 mg l(-1) and complete valve closure occurs only at 0.55 mg l(-1). The paper also shows that the sub-lethal physiological responses are better indices than lethal responses in planning chlorination strategies.