Struggling shipping sector to be hit by stricter black carbon emission rules

Tightening environmental regulations have given rise to a new challenge in compliance monitoring and are set to hit the struggling shipping sector. A Finnish project called Shipping Emissions in the Arctic aims to produce reliable measurement of black carbon emissions from shipping. The black carbon found in soot is linked to global warming and health problems. “New shipping routes are opening up due to the melting ice caps, which will prove detrimental to the climate as emissions from shipping extend to the highly vulnerable Arctic region. Even small deposits of black carbon accelerate melting and climate change. Pressure is mounting, because no common international environmental targets have been set for reducing black carbon emissions from shipping – and no standardised measurement techniques have been developed,” said VTT who are involved in the project.

A new global challenge and a compliance monitoring market are emerging, due to tightening environmental regulations. VTT Technical Research Centre of Finland, the Finnish Meteorological Institute, Tampere University of Technology and the University of Turku have joined forces in an international project – Shipping Emissions in the Arctic – with the aim of making the measurement of black carbon emissions from shipping more reliable.

The initial results show that engine loads and fuel types have a major impact on black carbon emissions from ships.

“Pressure is mounting, because no common international environmental targets have been set for reducing black carbon emissions from shipping – and no standardised measurement techniques have been developed,” VTT said in a release today.

Incomplete combustion generates soot containing black carbon, which warms the atmosphere and causes health problems.

“A reliable method of measuring black carbon emissions from shipping is sorely needed, now that the IMO is evaluating the need to control such emissions, but no reliable measurement technique has been identified,” said research team leader Jukka Lehtomäki of VTT.

Last autumn, emission tests were performed at VTT’s engine laboratory in Espoo, using a 1.6-megawatt diesel engine which corresponds to a typical auxiliary ship engine. The test matrix was extensive enough to make the results internationally applicable. Four marine fuels were tested, of which three contained varying amounts of sulphur (0.1%, 0.5% and 2.5%), whereas an oxygen-containing bio-component accounted for 30% of the fourth fuel. The next step will be to validate the results in a real ship equipped with the latest technology, including a desulphurising exhaust scrubber. The project also explores the business potential of emission measurements. In addition, the engine measurement tests leveraged the results of another measurement technology research project – HyperGlobal; a multicopter equipped with sensors was used to measure sulphur dioxide levels in the vicinity of a exhaust pipe during the tests.

“The critical examination and measurement of maritime black carbon emissions is made all the more urgent by the fact that black carbon is a major contributor to Arctic warming,” VTT said in a release, adding: “New shipping routes are opening up due to the melting ice caps, which will prove detrimental to the climate as emissions from shipping extend to the highly vulnerable Arctic region. Even small deposits of black carbon accelerate melting and climate change, by reducing the reflectivity of snow and ice.”

VTT’s Shipping Emissions in the Arctic project is part of the Tekes Arctic Seas programme. With a budget of EUR700,000, the project was launched in January 2015 and will end in December 2016.