Particulates matter in curbing pollution

Scrubbing technology has a key role to play in cutting the number of heart and lung-related cancer deaths due to particulate emissions in coastal zones

The recent decision by the US Environmental Protection Agency and Environment Canada to endorse an 85 per cent reduction in particulate matter (PM) emissions by 2015 – alongside NOx and SOx reductions – stands as the first substantial ruling for curbing PM from large deepsea vessels.

Forming part of the US-Canadian application for two 230-mile Emission Control Areas (ECAs) for the North American West and East coasts, the targets pose a number of significant questions to shipowners plying their trade in the regional ports, says Chris Leigh-Jones, managing director of Krystallon, the UK-based scrubber technology specialist.

The first is price. A look at marine fuel prices in early April revealed a US$165/tonne differential between IF380 heavy fuel and marine gas oil. Procurement costs for owners, operators and charterers entering the proposed ECAs will thus be radically changed.

A 5,500 TEU container ship entering a US port may spend an average 20 days a year in the 230-mile North American ECA, equating to an additional fuel bill of $330,000 annually in switching from heavy fuel oil to distillate bunkers. Fitting scrubbing technology (in as short as two weeks for a retrofit project), however, would future-proof a vessel entering North American waters or any other regions in the world incorporating ECAs.

The decision to include particulate matter is important as owners will be required to do more than switch to cleaner marine diesel or gas oil, which can only reduce PM by a nominal amount, while smaller and more harmful PM 2.5 particles may even increase when using cleaner fuels.

Particulate Matter first became part of the shipping consciousness when a report compiled by James Corbett, of the University of Delaware’s College of Marine and Earth Studies, made a direct correlation between the emissions of PM from ships’ fuel and cancer-related deaths in coastal areas worldwide. Some 60,000 premature deaths annually were cited as a direct result of shipping.

The number of premature deaths from ship emissions could rise by as much as 40 per cent in the next four years because of increased shipping activity, Mr Corbett suggested; and that number did not account for additional health impacts, such as bronchitis and asthma, estimated at 3.4 million instances in the USA and Canada alone.

In March this year the Corbett report was corroborated by a study published by the Danish National Environmental Research Institute, which put the total healthcare costs from shipping emissions along Denmark’s coastline at DKr6.1 billion (just over US$1 billion) a year. The sum dwarfs the country’s health bill attributable to all other airborne pollutants by 50 per cent.

The US-Canadian drive towards 0.1 per cent distillate marine fuel by 2015 in North American ECAs of 230 miles (2012 in California waters) means that marine fuel burnt in these areas will be required to contain no more than 1,000 ppm sulphur (the global average is currently 26,000 ppm).

Unfortunately, this fuel-driven approach may have the unintended consequence of increasing the amount of time that particulates emitted from ships remain in the air, potentially worsening air quality in port communities. This is due to the proportion of smaller particle size particulates (PM 2.5) released by marine gas oil and marine diesel oil.

“Scrubbing removes a larger percentage of PM 2.5 from medium and low speed diesel engines than just switching to distillates with 1,000 ppm sulphur,” declares Krystallon technical director John Young.

Shown in the illustration is the amount of particulate matter in 0.1 per cent distillate fuel after removal by a Krystallon scrubber.

It is likely that engine technology and additives will be able to meet the US-Canadian requirements for 80 per cent NOx removal by 2016 under the proposed legislation. Reduction of SOx and PM emissions to meet the proposed limits – and those of other ECAs under consideration – can be achieved by scrubber technology for marine applications.

When comparing the cost of distillate fuel against the capital cost of scrubber equipment and installation, the cost of scrubbing technology is miniscule, Krystallon claims.

As evidence of the millions of people affected by serious health problems from shipping’s PM emissions gathers pace, the number of ECAs worldwide will proliferate. With the marine distillate demand pool expected to increase exponentially in the years ahead, therefore, prices will inevitably rise and premiums over heavy fuel oil will widen.

• Krystallon is a founder member of the recently formed Exhaust Gas Cleaning Systems Association (EGCSA) along with Aalborg Industries, Clean Marine, Marine Exhaust Solutions and Wärtsilä. The organisation aims to work closely with the marine and energy industries, regulating authorities, governments, NGOs and environmental groups in creating a standardised regulatory framework for developing exhaust gas cleaning systems, such as scrubbers and selective catalytic reduction systems for reducing SOx, NOx and particulate matter emissions.

“Marine exhaust gas cleaning systems offer a viable, sustainable and cost-effective alternative to switching from high sulphur fuel to low sulphur bunkers and, eventually, distillate fuel,” asserts EGCSA director Donald Gregory.

“Given the anticipated demand of 22 million tonnes of distillates required in Europe alone by 2015 for the shipping sector, the systems provide an invaluable resource to offset tight demand and higher fuel costs for operators.” MP