Americas News
Reduce Sulfur and Bunker Consumption with a Suite of Products, Proposes Marine Tech Firm
Technology that works like a scrubber but can also reduce fuel by up to 20% has been developed by a US-based company.
Green Framework, which acts as consultant and conduit for technology present in other sectors that could be applied to shipping, says that fuel use can be reduced and environmental regulations met by combining inline sulfur removal, fuel additives and an exhaust treatment system.
"The suite of products is capable of both maintaining the current low cost of fuel as well as reducing the fuel use by 20%," company CEO Barbara Dutton-Weingarten told Ship & Bunker.
These products, called the E-Suite by the company, include De-Sul technology which removes sulfur by an inline grooming process.
"De-Sul is an inline fuel grooming system which removes almost all the sulphur from regular heavy fuel oil and intermediate fuel oil bunker fuels, with a minimum of complication and power requirement," according to the company's website.
"The system enables bunker fuel to be burned without the use of a scrubber in order to comply with discharge regulations."
Payback on investment is typically under two years, according to the company.
When the De-Sul product is used with other products, the commercial advantage of the technology comes to the fore.
An additive, Fuel Borne Catalyst, "converts harmful emissions from the engine into lesser compounds, producing cleaner exhaust gases while increasing the engine efficiency and reducing the amount of fuel burn".
In addition, the company's cyclonic exhaust system NG1 "allows more air to be scavenged into the combustion and increases the proportion of fuel burned".
The prospect a global sulfur cap on bunker fuel has intensified interest in maritime technology. The 0.50% sulfur cap starts from 2020 when many expect a shortage of suitable fuel to develop. Low sulfur distillate fuel is considerably more expensive than high sulfur fuel oil (HSFO). An exhaust abatement system, called a scrubber, which if installed onboard allows ships to continue to use HSFO and meet the sulfur cap, has yet to be fully embraced by shipowners.
