CARB Approves Emissions Capture System as Alternative to Shore Power [VIDEO]

The METS-1 is mounted and deployed from a barge that is positioned alongside ships berthed at the Port of Los Angeles.

Clean Air Engineering-Maritime (CAEM) Wednesday announced that it has received California Air Resources Board (CARB) approval for the Maritime Emissions Treatment System (METS), a portable ship emissions capturing system and alternative to shore power.

The METS-1, CAEM's first-generation system, is mounted and deployed from a barge that is positioned alongside ships berthed at the Port of Los Angeles.

The proprietary system, developed in collaboration with Tri-Mer Corporation, is positioned over vessels' smoke stacks and is said to capture and treat more than 90 percent of particulate (PM), NOx, SO2, and related diesel pollutants emitted.

"The METS-1 will have an immediate, direct and positive impact on the communities surrounding the Port of Los Angeles and Long Beach," said Nick Tonsich, principal at CAEM.

"In the long term, given the fact that there are so many ships in the world's fleet without cold-ironing capability, the METS system could have a profound impact on the entire shipping industry and our global environment."

CARB approved the system by Executive Order on June 26, 2015 after a period of testing, which began last year, and included performance evaluations of the METS on five separate vessels for a minimum period of 200 hours.

METS is the first CARB-approved alternative to "plugging in" to shore power, which is the current standard for meeting California's "Airborne Toxic Control Measure for Auxiliary Diesel Engines Operated on Ocean-Going Vessels At-Berth in a California Port" (At-Berth) regulation.

24 berths at the Port of Los Angeles are equipped for shore power, said to be the most of any port in the world, eliminating upwards of a ton of NOx emissions per vessel per 24-hour period.

Similar results have reportedly been demonstrated by the new METS alternative.

"In recent years, we have supported development of this technology through our Technology Advancement Program," said Gene Seroka, Executive Director, Port of Los Angeles.

"With CARB verification approval, this is now a solution that other ports can consider to lower vessel emissions in their harbors and surrounding communities."

In Fall 2014 the Port of Long Beach told Ship & Bunker it intended to test a similar system known as Advanced Maritime Emissions Control System (AMECS).