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More than 50 representatives from the maritime industry met recently at the head office of Germanischer Lloyd (GL) in Hamburg to discuss the issue of scrubber technology.

The GL Exchange Forum on Scrubber Technology brought together shipping companies, ship management agencies, shipyards, maritime journalists and stakeholders to consider the emissions limits, hear presentations from GL and industry experts, and discuss the drivers, implementation and commercial implications of scrubber technology for the industry.

Ralf Plump, Head of GL's Department Environmental Research, set the background for the presentations at the forum, providing attendees with an examination of the international regulations currently in place and upcoming, the drivers pushing their introduction, and the advantages provided by scrubber technology.

Mr Plump also looked at the estimated costs for retrofitting scrubbers to existing vessels in comparison with the installation of LNG (liquefied natural gas) fuel systems. Not only scrubber technology, but overall fuel efficiency in the maritime logistic chain was the key to lowering emissions, he noted, adding that shipping should also have its eye on the development of "zero emissions" solutions.

The class and regulatory requirements for the conversion of vessels to utilise scrubber technology were the main focus of Georg Martin, Head of GL's System Technology Department. Safety considerations, class rules and monitoring requirements were laid out by Mr Martin, who noted that the Class rules did not require Wet Scrubber Systems to have a scrubber bypass system, as long as the complete system is made of non-combustible material.

In his presentation entitled "Special Features of the application of Wet Scrubber Technology", Torbjorn Henriksson, from Wärtsilä Industrial Operations, looked at the scrubbing process and Wärtsilla's solutions for both scrubbers and wash water processing. Mr Henriksson went on to examine Wärtislla's first full-scale SOx (sulphur oxide) scrubber installation on the GL classed "Containerships VII", which was completed in August 2011.

Dan Lingenberg from Couple Systems, looked at the process, installation and logistical use of dry scrubber technology in his presentation entitled "Benefits of the application of Dry Scrubber Technology". Mr Lingenberg demonstrated how the systems had been integrated into several vessel types and the disposal options for the gypsum that remains as a waste product of the scrubbing process.

The results of having a dry scrubber system installed on a vessel in service were presented by Roerd Braren from Reederei Braren. In 2009, the MV Timbus was used in a pilot project testing a dry scrubber system from Couple Systems. Since then, repeated analyses have demonstrated a reduction in SOx of more than 99 percent.

The system has been working reliably and efficiently since 2009, Mr Braren said, and had reduced SOx emissions from the 6389 dwt multi-purpose vessel to under 0.1 percent. In addition to this, particulate emissions had been reduced by some 80 percent and the entire system could be operated by the Chief without any additional training, he noted.

In the last presentation of the forum the discussion turned to financing as Jens Rohleder, of KfW Mittelstandsbank, Frankfurt, examined the options for funding energy efficiency measures in shipping.

Rohleder said there were several options for shipping owners and operators to obtain investment capital for modernising vessels. Small and medium enterprises could obtain loans at favourable rates for amounts of up to 2 million euros for general environmental protection measures, he said.

Image: The container vessel Maersk Taurus was recently selected to trial a Belco scrubber on one of its auxiliary engines.