Americas News
Exhaust Scrubber in U.S. ECA First
Norway's Clean Marine reports that its exhaust gas cleaning system (EGCS) is the first of its kind to allow a ship to legally operate inside the U.S. Emission Control Area (ECA) while using high sulfur fuel oil.
The M/V Balder arrived in Baltimore, Maryland last week and received approval from the U.S Coast Guard to enter and exit the ECA using the scrubber system and burning the high sulfur fuel.
Coast Guard officials conducted a Port State Control exam on the vessel and confirmed that the scrubber system was in full compliance with MARPOL Annex VI as an equivalent solution to using low sulphur fuel oil.
"Meeting the U.S. Coast Guard's stringent requirements proves that our unique and competitive multi-stream EGCS solution is a sound technology that enables vessels of all types to transit through a U.S. ECA," said Clean Marine CEO Nils Høy-Petersen.
The scrubber is an integrated, multi-stream system with open- and closed-loop options that cleans exhaust from a main engine, three auxiliary engines, and a boiler.
Det Norske Veritas (DNV) has certified that the system reduces sulfur content to below 0.1 percent, which means the Balder, owned by Torvald Klaveness, already complies with the lowered sulfur threshold that will take effect within ECAs in 2015.
Clean Marine said it is the first scrubber company to approach U.S. authorities for inspection and approval.
A report this summer from the McIlvaine Company predicted that emissions regulations will prompt an upswing in the adoption of ship scrubbers.
