EMEA News
New Data to Inform Scrubber Washwater Quality Criteria
The environmental impact of washwater from exhaust gas cleaning systems should be reviewed as more becomes known about the effects, the IMO pollution sub-committee has decided.
The decision forms part of the revision of the 2015 Guidelines for exhaust gas cleaning systems, more commonly known as scrubbers, which will be submitted to MEPC 75 for adoption.
"The guidelines note that discharge water quality criteria should be reviewed in the future as more data becomes available. Guidance for voluntary discharge water data collection, by means of a recommended procedure for sampling, is included," according to the sub-committee on Pollution Prevention and Response (PPR).
In addition to the scrubber guidelines, topics covered by the sub-committee's deliberations -- which met in London last week -- included the carriage of heavy fuel oil, verifying the sulfur content of fuel on board and reducing the impact on the Arctic of Black Carbon emissions from international shipping.
