Technical digest Cruise installation for Singapore’s Ecospec S
ingapore-based Ecospec Global Technology is preparing to install its CSNOx scrubber on Royal Caribbean’s Independence of the Seas, its first application aboard a cruise vessel. And the company has a number of other deals in the pipeline, according to Chew Hwee Hong, Ecospec founder. The company has two separate installation contracts, with options for ten and 50 more units respectively, once the first units have been successfully commissioned. ‘The first order is already under installation,’ says Chew, ‘and there should be a total of two to three installations this year.’ Potential customers include Canada Steamship Lines and ForestWave Navigation, according to the company. The product, based on treating sea water or fresh water with ultra-low frequency waves in an electrolysis process, has still to receive type approval, however, because earlier tests requiring a 100% engine load test could not be completed. It has been tested on board a 100,000dwt tanker, with results verified by the American Bureau of Shipping, removing 99% of SOx, 66% of NOx and 99% of CO2.
‘Alternatives are being planned to complete the type approval by next
Viking’s first T
he first deep-sea international ferry to run on LNG as a primary fuel is being designed and built at STX Finland Oy, and will comply with Lloyd’s Register’s provisional Rules for LNG propulsion. The 56,850gt ropax vessel, to be built at the shipbuilder’s Turku yard, is due for delivery in 2013 and will be deployed on the route between Turku and Stockholm across the Baltic Sea. She will have capacity for cars, trucks, trailers, as well as 2,800 passengers and 200 crew. Viking Line has an option for a second vessel.
A propulsion machinery package will be supplied by Wärtsilä and will include four 8L50DF main engines, the transverse bow and stern tunnel thrusters, and two stainless steel fixed-pitch, built-up main propellers with complete propeller shaft lines
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year and it could be on another ship,’ Chew explains. The technology is also suitable for land-based emissions reduction including incinerators, power plants and refineries.
Chew Hwee Hong
The pressure on owners to reduce emissions and carbon footprints is a catalyst in technological advancement, Chew believes, and Ecospec itself is planning the introduction of three new products – an anti-corrosive device ElMag, a chemical-free antifouling coating BioMag, and CSOx, a product within the CSNOx range. He notes that shipowners have stepped forward from the sidelines and are investing substantial sums in green initiatives. ‘Some of these pioneer green owners have already committed
hundreds of millions,’ he says. ‘Over the last year, many of the more advanced shipyards are setting up new teams and departments to handle the retrofitting and integrating of new innovative green technology design, or packaging green systems into newbuildings to offer to shipowners.’ In April, Ecospec signed an agreement with Sembawang Shipyard to provide customised and green environmental solutions to the marine and offshore
industries.Sembawang will provide design and engineering expertise while Ecospec will offer technology designed to support owners in their moves to comply with new green regulations. Last October, Ecospec reached agreement with Wärtsilä, provider of power systems for the marine and energy markets, to integrate the CSNOx system into various engine applications. The Singapore-headquartered company already has offices in China, Denmark, India and Thailand and may also set up in Mexico. Meanwhile, the likely surge in demand for emissions abatement technology has prompted the company to consider a possible listing on the Singapore Stock Exchange. This could happen within the next couple of years, says Chew.
Ground-breaker
and environmentally sound shaft line seal systems. Wärtsilä claims the vessel will break new groun in becoming the ‘most environmentally sound large passenger ferry in the world.’ SOx emissions will be negligible, NOx emissions will be at least 80% below IMO’s current limit, particulate emissions will be slashed by 90% compared with conventional diesel engines, and CO2 emissions should be reduced by 20-30%, Wärtsilä says.
Meanwhile, Lloyd’s Register has already carried out a detailed risk
analysis for the ferry company, examing the bunkering process to minimise the risks association with movement of the bunker barge and ship within port confines and the loading of fuel at the same time as passengers and cars. Wärtsilä is spearheading the development of dual-fuel technology and has introduced a series of four- stroke engines recently. These include the 50DF, 34DF and 20DF series, all of which are designed to switch between liquid and gaseous fuels with no interruption to power generation.
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