Page 43: of Maritime Reporter Magazine (May 2018)

Earlier this year in New York City the There seems to be a fair amount of Aakre, Wärtsilä lutant, namely you remove the SOx …

Exhaust Gas Cleaning System Associa- misunderstanding in the marketplace There are several. I think the biggest one which is a pollutant … and create sul- tion (EGCSA) held its annual meeting regarding scrubbers. What do you is that you move the pollution from the fate, which is not a pollutant, and you to discuss the business, technologies ? nd to be the biggest misconception? air to the water, which is not true. You release the sulfate to the water.

and future of scrubbers as a solution to remove something that is a pollutant and the looming IMO 2020 fuel rules. At turn it into something that is not a pol- Confuorto, CR Ocean Engineering the meeting, Maritime Reporter & En- gineering News was afforded the op- portunity to pick the brains of several leading executives to help understand the challenge and promise that scrubbers provide.

In October 2016 a landmark decision was handed down from the International

Maritime Organization (IMO) which set

January 1, 2020 as implementation date for a signi? cant reduction in the sulfur content of the fuel oil used by ships.

The new rule sets a global sulfur limit of 0.50% in 2020 versus 3.5% allowed to- day. Despite reservations from shipown- ers regarding the availability of the new fuel, which at the time of the announce- ment did not exist, and resistance to the capital expenditure of ? tting emission scrubbers, which reportedly can tip the

CapEx scale at $10 million per ship, the rule is set to enter force without fail.

“The entry into force of the 0.50% sulfur in fuel oil limit cannot and will not be delayed,” said Kitack Lim, IMO

Secretary-General, during an interview with Maritime Reporter & Engineering

News in his of? ce at IMO headquarters in London in mid-March. A comprehen- sive study on availability of fuel oil was carried out by experts and overseen by a steering committee and it concluded there will be enough compliant fuel oil. “The study on the “Assessment of fuel oil availability” concluded that the re- ? nery sector has the capability to sup- ply suf? cient quantities of marine fuels with a sulfur content of 0.50% m/m or less and with a sulfur content of 0.10% m/m or less to meet demand for these products, while also meeting demand for non-marine fuels.”

For further insight on scrubbers as a solution – the misconceptions and the facts – Maritime Reporter interviews: • Stian Aakre, Wärtsilä; • Nick Confuorto, CR Ocean Engineering; • Nils Homburg, Saacke Marine Systems; and • Marcel Somers, Alfa Laval.

A Wärtsilä V-SOx Scrubber being in- stalled on board the MV Tarago.

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