DTU Researcher Develops New Software to Reduce Ship NOx Emissions

DTU Ph.D. student Kræn Vodder Nielsen has developed new software to limit ship NOx and black smoke emissions. Image: DTU

A Technical University of Denmark (DTU) researcher, in cooperation with MAN Diesel & Turbo SE (MAN) and Linköping University, has developed a new software to limit ships' NOx and black smoke emissions, World Maritime News reports.

"I found out that the academic methods for development of the control of a marine engine with EGR technology at that time were too complex. Therefore, it quickly became clear to me that I had to develop a simple model that includes only the critical part of the system that we wanted to improve," said DTU Ph.D. student Kræn Vodder Nielsen.

"From there, we developed a new control that coordinates the recirculation and fuel injection without requiring too much tuning of other parts of the system."

Kræn - now employed at MAN - is working to help finalise the software, which is expected to be used in marine engines by the end of the year.

"EGR (Exhaust Gas Recirculation) technology is one way of reducing NOx emissions. However, the regulator for the EGR technology meant that black smoke was created in connection with the rapid acceleration of a ship, which is undesirable and can damage the engine," said Casper Hededal Svendsen, Head of Emission Control at MAN, explaining why the company turned to DTU for assistance.

"The black smoke could be removed by maneuvering ships differently, but we wanted to maintain the current sailing properties and solve the problem in a different way instead."

The new control technology is said to have been tested on marine engines during the project, successfully avoiding the formation of black smoke without impacting vessel manoeuvrability in the process.

"Initially, I will go out and install it on the ships, but in the long term the plan is that I will write a guide so that shipbuilders and crews can fine-tune the system themselves," explained Nielsen of the new system.

In March, Ship & Bunker reported that Langh Tech Oy Ab (Langh Tech), through work with MAN, had developed a water treatment system to be used for cleaning the process water of EGR systems.