10 Air Monitoring SEICOR - SHIP EMISSION INSPECTION WITH CALIBRATION-FREE OPTICAL REMOTE SENSING
International maritime shipping forms the backbone of our globalized world. Since 1970, the amount of transported goods by ship has more than quadrupled, according to a 2021 World Ocean Review.1 Today, roughly 80% to 90% of global trade is transported by ships, amounting to approximately 12 billion tons of cargo or 885 million Twenty-foot Equivalent Units (TEU) exchanged within 2022, reports a 2023 UNCTAD Review of Maritime Transport.2
D
espite the crises of recent years, which led to a slump in freight volumes in 2020 (-3.6% due to the COVID-19 pandemic and -0.4% in 2022 due to the confl ict in Ukraine and associated price shocks), UNCTAD is forecasting growth of 2.4% for 2023. A growth of just over 2% p.a. is also expected in the next 5 years.
As of January 2023, international maritime trade was handled by around 105,000 vessels (gross tonnage of 100 and above), with oil tankers, bulk carriers and container ships accounting for 85% of the total capacity. Regarding the volumes of freight handled, the capacity of the global commercial fl eet is expanding at a rate of approximately 3% annually.
At present, almost all cargo ships are propelled by conventional engines and fuels. In 2022, the international shipping sector emitted around 1.1 billion tons of CO2
equivalents, accounting
for roughly 3% of the world’s greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. This amount is nearly on par with the overall GHG emissions of Japan, which has the world’s third largest economy. Besides GHG, shipping is responsible for a variety of pollutant emissions that can impact air quality and the ecosystem. These include sulfur dioxide (SO2
), which is primarily produced through the
combustion of sulfur-containing ship fuels (heavy fuel oil, HFO), and nitrogen oxides (NOx
), which are generated during the
combustion process of fuels at high temperatures, contributing to air pollution and ground-level ozone formation, especially nitrogen dioxide (NO2
). Furthermore, particulate matter (PM), primarily in the form of soot, is emitted and affects air quality while posing health risks.
emissions from ship exhaust gases by limiting the sulfur content in marine fuels. The global sulfur limit was lowered to 0.50% m/m (mass by mass) from 3.50% m/m on Jan. 1, 2020. Inside designated Sulfur Emission Control areas (SECA), the FSC limit was set to 1.50% m/m and was further reduced to 1.00% m/m in 2010 and 0.10% m/m in 2015. Alternatively, ships can continue using high-Sulfur fuels, but must then carry out exhaust gas aftertreatment (scrubber), to achieve the same reduction in SO2 The NOx
emissions as when using low-Sulfur fuels.
emissions from ship diesel engines with a power output of more than 130 kW are regulated in Regulation 13 of MARPOL Annex VI and the 2008 NOx
Technical Code Tiers. Tier
I applies to ships constructed (i.e. keel laid) after 2000 and Tier II, to those constructed from 2011. The more stringent Tier III limits apply only for ships which are operated in a designated
To mitigate the environmental footprint of the maritime industry, the International Maritime Organization (IMO) has developed the International Convention for the Prevention of Pollution from Ships or MARPOL – short for marine pollution. MARPOL came into force in 1983 with an initial focus on the discharge of oil into the ocean environment. Since then, the convention has continuously expanded its scope to include additional types of pollutants, such as noxious liquid substances, sewage, and ship-generated garbage. MARPOL Annex VI, which came into force in 2005, also introduced requirements for the regulation of air pollutants emitted by ships. Regulation 14 aims to reduce SO2
Figure 1: Map with existing and planned emission monitoring zones for sulfur and nitrogen oxide emissions.
Nitrogen Emission Control Areas (NECA) and are constructed from 2016 (North American NECA) and 2021 (European NECA), respectively. Furthermore, MARPOL Annex IV prohibits the deliberate emissions of ozone-depleting substances, such as chlorofl uorocarbons (CFCs) and other halogenated (hydro-) carbons, and indirectly regulates the emission of particulate matter.
SECAs and NECAs can be summarized to emission control areas (ECAs). The following ECAs are currently established: the Baltic Sea, the North Sea, including the English Channel, 24 nautical miles off the Californian coast, 200 nautical miles off the North American coasts of Canada and the USA, including the Great Lakes and Hawaii, and the coastal waters around Puerto Rico and the US Virgin Islands. There are plans to expand these zones in the future, as shown in Figure 1.
EU Directive 1999/32/EC and its revisions 2012/33/EC and 2016/802/EC transpose the MARPOL regulations into European law. Implementing Decision 2015/253/EC stipulates that at least 10% of all ships arriving in a Member State each year must have a document and logbook inspection on board and at least 40% of the ships inspected must also have their fuel analyzed (Article 3, paragraphs 1-2). The fulfi lment of this quota represents a considerable additional burden for the inspecting bodies – waterway police and port state control. However, it is permitted
to reduce the fuel sampling and analysis frequency on board ships by a maximum of half of the member states “by deducting the number of individual ships whose possible non-compliance is checked using remote sensing technologies or quick scan analysis methods,” states the Implementing Decision 2015/253/ EC in Article 3.
Current methods for capturing emission parameters from bypassing vessels rely on in-situ procedures, utilizing shoreline- placed measurement containers equipped with established environmental measurement devices for NOx
, SO2 , and CO2 .
Drawbacks include dependence on wind direction; in certain cases, the wind may not carry the exhaust plume to the measurement station, resulting in the measurement of only a small fraction of passing ships. Accurate allocation of measured plumes to individual ships is feasible only when passing vessels are distinctly separated and false signals can arise due to other emission sources. Another drawback is that in-situ devices need periodic calibration, requiring the availability of certifi ed calibration gas at regular intervals.
In another approach, drones or manned aircraft fl y directly through the exhaust plumes of the ships to record the concentrations of the relevant exhaust gas components. However, these methods for airborne measurement of exhaust gas components are very costly and labor-intensive. Due to the
AET ANNUAL BUYERS’ GUIDE 2024
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