Increasing attention to environmental impacts has affected the shipbuilding industry, which is predicted to see a steady decline in SOx and NOx engine emissions until 2025.
Mandatory energy measures have been adopted, the ECA Emission Control Area defined the area where the recent and more stringent emission limit are in place.
In order to comply with ECA regulations, ships have to burn low-sulphur fuel or improve the process by passing through an air cleaning system.
FGD (flue gas desulphurisation) is a common process on coal fuel power plants. To implement this on board, ships would require some challenges to be met such as weight and close proximity of space.
Chosen technical solution features include:
- Ships owner: Brittany Ferries
- Ships equipped with GF piping system: Ro-Pax, Cap Finistere, the Normandie and the Barfleur
- Scrubber manufacturer: Yara Marine technologies (formerly Green Tech Marine)
In order to avoid corrosion problems and improve flexibility during a complex piping retrofit, the decision to switch from traditional steel and / or GRP to Georg Fischer ecoFIT was simple.
GF parts are manufactured by using high-quality raw materials, and the optimised production process grants that the component will have lower installation time and longer reliability. Specialised installer and full support of GF Marine team has delivered reliable piping solution.
Brittany Ferries director says: “Normandie left the shipyard three weeks ago, and the scrubbers are working perfectly, the level of sulphur oxides in the exhaust gas is lower than 0.1%, in compliance with regulations.
“We are very pleased with this project, which represents a nice technical challenge. It was completed successfully and without losing neither freight nor passenger space, which was our goal.”