In previous blog posts we have discussed our continuing progress in the development and implementation of SO2 Scrubber technology to control marine diesel engine emissions. We have recently finished manufacturing an exhaust gas cleaning system for SO2 removal which is to be installed at a state of the art maritime engine test facility equipped with a 3MW diesel engine. Soon we will begin testing our system under a wide variety of conditions to fine-tune and validate our marine diesel engine emissions scrubbing technology. Once the testing is complete, we will apply for a maritime registration for our control technology.
Regulations on exhaust gas emitted from marine diesel engines are becoming increasingly stricter. The recently implemented MARPOL Annex VI specifies that the fuel used to power large sea bearing vessels must contain no more that 3.5% sulfur oxides by weight in non-Emission Control Areas and no more that 1.0% by weight in designated Emission Control Areas. This allowable weight percentage of SOx will drastically decrease to 0.5% in 2020 for non-Emission Control Areas and 0.1% in designated Emission Control areas. One can easily predict that fuel expenses for ship-owners will increase along with the requirement for the use of lower sulfur content fuel. An economical alternative to using this more expensive fuel is to install a secondary exhaust gas cleaning system such as an SO2 scrubber to clean diesel engine emissions before they are released to the atmosphere.
In addition to Envitech’s new ship-based marine diesel engine SO2 scrubber demonstration system, we have seen continued success with meeting SO2 emission limits with our land-based SO2 marine scrubber which was installed this past March at the Port of Long Beach in Southern California. Our land based scrubber is used to clean the stack gases of ships that need to continue to run their engines to generate power while docked.
To read more about our products for marine diesel engines, download the case study below.