Page 52: of Maritime Reporter Magazine (May 2017)

The LNG Revolution

Photo: © GTT / Roland Mouron

LNG as Fuel:

Challenges & & Opportunities

BY TOM MULLIGAN

Environmental regulations are the years – and this needs to be achieved percent, Nox by 85 percent, particu-

Here are some simple statistics main driver in reducing these emissions now, with the shipping industry current- lates by 98 percent and carbon dioxide about the shipping industry: worldwide. Although until recently ly in the middle of a crisis. Investment by 20 to 25 percent. Moreover, LNG is • It accounts for 90% of world-

ECA zones were limited to a few areas, and operational costs are critical param- becoming increasingly available, with wide transportation the IMO has now decided to limit SOx eters that need to be considered. infrastructure being developed in all the • It produces 3.1% of world- emissions worldwide and by 2020 all The answer to the problem needs to be major worldwide ports and international wide emissions newbuilds will have to comply with its based on a long-term perspective – the oil companies expanding and improv- • It is the least polluting meth- new regulations. The challenge for the industry needs to be two steps ahead of ing their product and service offerings od of transportation shipping industry, however, is not only the regulations. There are several ap- in LNG fuel. The technology for the to comply with the IMO 2020 sulfur cap proaches that can be adopted to reduce use of LNG is already established, with ...But it still produces more than but also to catch up with the planning of emissions, one of the most promising about 100 ships currently running on it twice the emissions of the whole the regulation by identifying and imple- being the use of lique? ed natural gas and about another 90 LNG-fueled ships of France (yes, twice the emis- menting the solutions that are available (LNG) as fuel. This approach is compli- on order. And, of course, LNG has been sions from all sources of a coun- to enable regulation-compliant ships to ant with existing and upcoming norms: used for years as a fuel by methane car- try as large as France!) be designed and built over the next three SOx emissions can be reduced by 100 rier vessels. It is also a cost-effective 52 Maritime Reporter & Engineering News • MAY 2017

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