Air Pollution Control Innovations

In 2012 Envitech designed and built a marine diesel scrubber to remove SO₂ from the engine exhaust of ocean going vessels.  The scrubber was integrated into the Advanced Maritime Emissions Control System (AMECS) used at the Port of Long Beach.  AMECS is a stationary system that uses a bonnet to capture the exhaust gas from the ships stack while at port. The exhaust gases are conveyed to AMECS to clean the gases of particulate (PM), NO_x and SO_x before exhausting to atmosphere. This allows the ship to operate its auxiliary engines and boiler system while at port to provide power to the ship.  AMECS provides a cost effective way for ships and port operators to reduce emissions and to meet tougher regulatory standards. 

The AMECS team recently announced that the California Air Resource Board (CARB) has approved AMECS as an alternative technology for the At-Berth Regulation.  This approval follows more than 1500 hours of validation testing on 40+ vessels during 2012 and 2013.  The most recent testing occurred in October of 2013 and was attended by representative of CARB and SCAQMD as well as representatives from the Ports of Long Beach and Los Angeles.  The test yielded impressive results, including:

• PM                                                                  94.5%

• NO_x (@1.6ppm ammonia slip)                       99+%

• SO₂                                                                 98.5%

• VOCs                                                              99.5%

In a parallel track, the maritime industry is looking for ways to meet tougher standards not only at port but while operating at sea based on the IMO Annex VI MARIPOL Tier III requirements. Envitech continues to develop De-SO_x technology options for ship based marine diesel engines.  The recent CARB approval is a milestone achievement for demonstrating the Envitech scrubbers ability to achieve high SO₂ removal efficiency over a wide range of diesel exhaust and operating conditions.

Click on the link below to download a case study on the marine scrubber.

Emissions from marine vessels contribute to global smog forming pollutants.  In response, the International Maritime Organization (IMO) has adopted new regulations in MARPOL  Annex VI for progressive reduction of NOx, SOx, and Particulate.  The new regulations require ships to achieve a SOx reduction equivalent to 0.1% sulfur fuel by 2015. This requirement can be met by using more expensive, low sulfur fuel, or by   using a marine diesel scrubber. The scrubbers must achieve greater than 97% SOx removal with 3.5% sulfur fuel.  A cost effective scrubber is needed to help ship operators comply with these rules and avoid high cost ultra-low sulfur fuel.

The Envitech HYSEA DeSOx scrubber combines 30 years of experience achieving low emissions on stationary sources with patent pending technology.  Scrubber  features include:

• Innovative inlet design allowing a vertical bottom direct connect to minimize space.
• Proprietary quencher to cool the gas to saturation and remove particulate.
• Flow works modeling to ensure uniform gas distribution for maximum performance.
• Flexibility for open loop operation to minimize operating cost and closed loop operation for navigation in inland water ways and SECA zones.
• High performance, foul-resistant mass transfer media to minimize pressure drop and parasitic load.
• Skid mounted pump skid with integrated control panel.

Please click on the icon below to download a case study on the Envitech HYSEA DeSOx scrubber.

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 SO_x 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.