Van Oord to Trial Marine's First "Semi-Dry" Scrubber Tech

A scrubber will be installed on one of the two main engines of the hopper dredger Van Oord Lelystad. Image Credit: Van Oord

Dutch dredging firm Van Oord has signed up for Marine's first trial of a unique type of scrubber manufactured by Ionada.

"This installation represents the world’s first marine SOx scrubber using Semi-Dry nanotechnology absorbents," said Ionada President, Edoardo Panziera.

The deal will see a scrubber installed on one of the two main engines of the hopper dredger Van Oord Lelystad, with the subsequent sea trials set to take place in the Port of Rotterdam and completed by the fourth quarter of 2018.

Ionada says its "Semi-Dry" membrane technology has a number of advantages over traditional wet scrubber designs including a 30% reduction in the energy required to scrub exhaust gasses, which translates into cost savings from reduced bunker consumption.

"Membrane scrubbers are similar to wet scrubbers. The key difference the liquid absorbent is not sprayed into the exhaust stream to mix with the exhaust. Instead, the liquid absorbent is suspended in porous membranes that come in contact with the exhaust but do not physically mix with the exhaust," the Canadian outfit explains.

Also different to traditional wet scrubbers is that they have no washwater or other disposal issues to deal with.

This will be welcome news to shipowners who have raised concerns over washwater in both open and closed loop wet scrubber designs, particularly regarding the potential for new regulations to ban the use of open loop scrubbing. When it comes to closed loop systems, concerns have been raised over the cost and availability of suitable discharge facilities at global ports.

While independent industry experts such as Rudy Kassinger have repeatedly highlighted the favourable economics of all scrubber technology, the capital cost outlay of a scrubber is still seen by some as a barrier.

This could be particularly so for Ionada, who says its scrubbers have a higher initial capital cost than scrubbers based on traditional technology. Still, the company hopes it can overcome this shortcoming too.

"Ionada is now offering shipowners an Exhaust Gas Cleaning (EGC) Service where shipowners only pay for the fuel cleaned. The EGC Service saves millions in capital costs, and completely de-risks scrubber purchases for the shipowners," the company says.

While the uptake of scrubbers to date has been below expectation, DNV GL this month noted interest in the technology has risen "dramatically" in recent months.