How to reduce pollutants in harbours

Harbour emissions abatement

Marine transport has increased along with world population and global trades over the last decades, this has a direct impact on port’s size and capacity. Although this aspect can be considered as an indicator of economic development, the larger a port becomes, the higher is the correlated risk of pollution due to higher traffic and operations. Engine vessel burns diesel fuel that is the primary source of pollutant emissions at port facilities making a significant impact on the environment and on the air quality of nearby cities.

The installation of a mobile system on a barge is connected to an automatic capture system patented by partner Greener Process Systems Inc. (SETH^TM) that helps to control and reduce air pollution in urban areas where ships contribute up to 70% of total emissions. It is designed to capture the emissions from the ship’s exhaust pipes collecting the fumes through a roboticmodular system and send them to the treatment system.

The mobile system, that is also part of the capture system patented by Greener Process Systems Inc., is completely electric guaranteeing no additional CO₂ emissions. It is adaptable, versatile and works with most types of ship and quay configuration. The treatment system consists of a Non-Catalytic Ceramic Filter System with a Selective Catalytic Reactor (SCR) associated with ammonia storage and DSI of calcium sorbent which effectively mitigates pollutant concentration: SO_x to < 85 mg/Nm³, NO_x to < 500 mg/Nm³, and dust to < 5 mg/Nm3 and gives the possibility of use high sulphur fuel during port turnaround times.

Every ship exhaust emits the equivalent of “tens of thousands” vehicles. The mobile system offers a unified solution to any type of ships or port configuration, pollutant reduction achieves very high abatement efficiency (92% on average) which represents less than 10% of the total port’s contribution to urban air.