Provider of Clean Shipping Solutions

In-service measurements used as a basis for verification of the efficiency of NOx reduction, measured on a ferry.
 

NOx emissions from ships in focus

MARINTEK aims to provide the marine industry with knowhow to help it improve energy efficiency and reduce the environmental impact of marine energy systems, providing assistance from technology development to final implementation. At a time where new requirements are emerging in several areas, technology development and methods of verifying the efficiency achieved by new ways of reducing emissions are progressing in parallel.

IMO MARPOL Annex VI is expected to enter into force in the near future, along with corresponding national and regional regulations that aim to reduce emissions of NOx. In Norway new national requirements regarding NOx emissions from ships are being drawn up.

In recent projects MARINTEK has assessed the cost efficiency of various means of reducing NOx emissions from existing ships. Studies performed by MARINTEK show that the cost efficiency of different technological solutions varies significantly between different types of ship and trades.

EU low sulphur fuel directive

IMO at global level, and the EU at regional level, will establish regulatory regimes that will limit the permissible sulphur content of marine bunker fuels. New proposals indicate that heavy fuel oil (HFO) with a sulphur content above 1.5% m/m will not be permitted for use in the Baltic or the North Sea. For international shipping this change will have a significant operational and technical impact, as a large proportion of the international merchant fleet is currently operating on conventional HFO with a sulphur content far above 1.5 % m/m (the world average for HFO is 2.7% m/m).

In the EC-funded project MARTOB, MARINTEK has assessed the operational impact of compliance with the new requirements. Depending on trade, type of vessel and fuel system lay-out, the new requirements will mean revised fuel system designs for new ships, and possibly a need for retrofits of additional fuel tanks or new fuel changeover procedures in existing vessels.

Simulation of the time required for fuel changeover from high sulphur HFO to low sulphur HFO.

Contact at MARINTEK: Kjell Olav Skjølsvik

(This article is presented in MARINTEK Review No 3 - June - 2003)