CLASS society ABS, acting on behalf of the Singapore government, has verified that a new type of emissions scrubber developed by Singapore-based Ecospec achieved significant results in reducing emissions, including of carbon dioxide (CO2), when tested on a shore based rig.
ABS confirmed its findings at a presentation organised by the Singapore governmentat at IMO's London headquarters during a Marine Environment Protection Committee (MEPC) meeting last Thursday . The levels of CO2 removal verified by ABS were not as high as those reported from an initial test on Tanker Pacific tanker Coral Sea last December when over 74% of CO was removed but between about 30% and 55% was taken out of the emissions stream.
ABS vice president Southern Pacific Region Thomas Tan said: “While instruments have been erratic up to this point, tests do indicate significant and consistent ability of the set-up to remove substantial nitrogen oxide (NOx), sulphur oxide (SOx) and CO2.”
There was considerable interest as Ecospec Managing Director and founder Chew Hwee Hong described a system that could potentially not only meet existing IMO regulations on SOx and NOx but also holds the promise of enabling the shipping industry to meet increasing pressure on it to cut emissions of greenhouse gas CO2.
The next step will be further sea trials later this year on another tanker. This time the equipment's operation will be closely monitored by ABS. The intention is that the Maritime and Port Authority of Singapore will issue type approval as an SOx scrubber after successful completion of these trials.
Mr Chew told Anderimar Shipping News that the rig being fitted to the tanker for the trials was the full production version and that other units are already construction for a number of owners who have already committed to using this technology. He expected something like 30 onboard installations to be operating within a year.