The trends to escalate waste to energy and to use smart control systems for wastewater solutions are rapidly growing - with benefits to be gained by cruise ship operators
Scanship has launched its Microwave Assisted Pyrolysis (MAP) system into the cruise market which turns waste into useful energy.
Scanship chief commercial officer Bjorn Abraham Bache explains “We have worked on this technology for several years.”
Scanship’s process turns all carbon-based waste – including food, sewage sludge, paper, cardboard, wood and plastics – into syngas and bio-char, which can be used to satisfy other energy demands on the ship. MAP is the new hub in the waste management system, bridging the food waste, recycling and wastewater sludge systems and obviating the need for a conventional incinerator.
MAP produces syngas, which can be piped off and used to power a dual-fuel boiler or even a fuel cell to produce electricity.
The rest of the product consists of bio-char, which needs to be landed. Mr Bache says a benefit is that it is a commodity and can be sold as it is a “very good product for soil enrichment” or can be used as a remedy against contaminated soil and water.
Scanship has also won a contract for a land-based company.
The company estimates that a cruise ship carrying 5,000 passengers can reduce fossil fuel consumption by about 750 tonnes a year, eliminating about 2,000 tonnes of greenhouse gas emissions.
Mr Bache adds that calculations made show that if a cruise operator uses MAP to convert all garbage in an optimised manner, it may reduce the ship’s total CO2 emissions by about 5% including CO2 captured in coal. Mr Bache adds “Incinerators [traditionally used to] take a lot of energy to run, but MAP is an energy-positive system, so not a lot of energy is required because the gas it produces can go back into refuelling the system.”
Another advantage of the MAP system is that it is modular, so modules can be added to create larger systems for bigger cruise ships. Mr Bache says “Its space requirements are less than for traditional incinerators as it is modular, so it is a good product for retrofit and newbuilds. Another benefit is that cruise ships can most probably run it while at port (which incinerators cannot) so MAP can run 24/7.”
Enter smart biological systems
Smart solutions that boost monitoring and control are also gaining momentum. Headhunter president Mark Mellinger says “This past autumn we did the final functional testing with the USCG test lab for our newest product. It’s called the Tidal Wave - Smart Biological. It is a flat-plate membrane bioreactor with capacity range of 1,000 to 22,000 litres per day. It is called a smart biological system because each system will include an embedded PC for system control and integration to vessel monitoring systems. We will include videos in the control panel to educate technicians on the correct operation of the plant.”
He adds “Functionally it incorporates a range of simple and unique processes to bring flat-plate membrane biological systems to the mainstream market. Application of this type of technology is well known in the marine market as the first generation of flat-plate membrane bioreactors were utilised on Queen Mary 2. The updates we have developed help to reduce the physical size of the plant while complying with MEPC.227(64) including section 4.2 for passenger vessels in special areas.
The trends to escalate waste to energy and to use smart control systems for wastewater solutions are is rapidly growing - with benefits to be gained by cruise ship operators
Some of the main trends driving the development of wastewater solutions include conversion to power and ‘smart’ monitoring and control systems.
Scanship has launched its Microwave Assisted Pyrolysis (MAP) system into the cruise market which turns waste to energy. Scanship chief commercial officer Bjorn Abraham Bache explains “We have worked on this for the past five years.”
The microwave-assisted pyrolysis uses microwaves to reduce the energy required to turn waste into usable gases.
Scanship’s process turns all carbon-based waste – including food, sewage, paper, wood, plastics and oils – into flammable gas, bio-oil and charcoal, which can be used to satisfy other energy demands on the ship. It follows the same procedure as using a traditional incinerator – it is linked to the wastewater system to collect the sludge and then once the waste is dried, rather than go to incinerator, it goes into the MAP.
The process produces syngas, which can be piped off and used to power the dual-fuel boiler.
The rest of the product consists of activated carbon, which needs to be disposed on land. Mr Bache says that a benefit is it is a commodity and can be sold as it is a “very good product for soil enrichment”.
Two weeks ago, the company received a contract with a cruise line (it was unable to say which at this stage). “When the contract was released, the market responded with a share price for Scanship that doubled in a couple of days on the Oslo Stock Exchange,” says Mr Bache.
Scanship has also won a contract for a land-based company.
The company estimates that a cruise ship carrying 5,000 passengers can reduce fossil fuel consumption by 1,800 tonnes a year, eliminating 6,500 tonnes of greenhouse gas emissions.
“Incinerators take a lot of energy to run, but MAP is an energy-positive system, so not a lot of energy is required because the gas it produces can go back into refuelling the system”
Mr Bache adds that calculations show that if a cruise operator uses MAP to convert all rubbish, it will capture 10% of CO2 emissions from a complete ship. “Incinerators [traditionally used] take a lot of energy to run, but MAP is an energy-positive system, so not a lot of energy is required because the gas it produces can go back into refuelling the system.”
Another advantage of the MAP system is that it is modular, so modules can be added to create larger systems for bigger cruise ships. Mr Bache says “Its space requirements are less than for traditional incinerators as it is modular, so it is a good product for retrofit and newbuilds. Another benefit is that cruise ships can run it at port (they are not allowed with incinerators) so MAP can run 24/7.”
Enter smart biological systems
Smart solutions that boost monitoring and control are also gaining momentum. Headhunter president Mark Mellinger says “This past autumn we did the final functional testing with the USCG test lab for our newest product. It’s called the Tidal Wave - Smart Biological. It is a flat-plate membrane bioreactor with capacity range of 1,000 to 22,000 litres per day. It is called a smart biological system because each system will include an embedded PC for system control and integration to vessel monitoring systems. We will include videos in the control panel to educate technicians on the correct operation of the plant.”
He adds “Functionally it incorporates a range of simple and unique processes to bring flat-plate membrane biological systems to the mainstream market. Application of this type of technology is well known in the marine market as the first generation of flat-plate membrane bioreactors were utilised on Queen Mary 2. The updates we have developed help to reduce the physical size of the plant while complying with MEPC.227(64) including section 4.2 for passenger vessels in special areas.
© 2023 Riviera Maritime Media Ltd.