Biggest ever marine scrubber installation planned
The biggest marine scrubber installation in the world to date is planned for a Norwegian Cruise Line ship, according to the supplier, Green Tech Marine, Ship & Bunker reports.
The scrubbers, scheduled for installation in the Pride of America cruise ship in March at the Pearl Harbor Naval shipyard, will clean the exhaust of four 8 megawatt (MW) engines, a total of 32 MW, replacing the ship's silencers.
The system will be able to operate either in open loop mode, or closed loop mode where there is no discharge from the system into the sea, and Green Tech Marine said the size of the scrubbers means no passengers or crew space will be compromised by their installation.
"The contract is another important step toward convincing ship owners that exhaust gas cleaning systems is a feasible and less expensive alternative to running on low sulfur fuel," said Peter Strandberg, president and CEO of Green Tech Marine.
The Pride of America, which has a passenger capacity of 2,138 and gross register tonnage of 80,439, is used for Hawaiian cruises, according to the Norwegian Cruise Line website.
Hawaii is covered by the North American Emissions Control Area (ECA), which went into effect in August, requiring ships to reduce sulfur emissions, although the state's senators have called for a change to the new rules that would allow for more emissions in less populated areas.
The uptake and use of scrubber technology has been a subject of debate within the shipping industry, with some analysts expecting it to become standard while others predict that ships will instead switch to liquefied natural gas (LNG) bunkers, which produce less emissions.
