Green Shipping—Multifunctional Marine Scrubbers for Emission Control: Silencing Effect

Abstract

Scrubber systems abate the sulphur oxide emissions of engines when cheap fuel oils that are high in sulphur content are employed as combustibles. However, the ships with these voluminous devices installed on board is space demanding. This work analyses the feasibility of incorporating the acoustic abatement of the exhaust gas noise functionality into the scrubber design to provide a combined scrubber–silencer system. For this purpose, a finite element analysis is performed on a simple expansion chamber, which is assessed using both analytical and experimental data. The transmission loss is the acoustic parameter chosen in this work. The numerical model depicts a good correlation with the transmission loss measured on a model scale scrubber. Finally, scrubber geometry modifications alter the transmission loss, changing and/or enhancing its featuring. These abilities indicate the feasibility to confer to scrubber silencing effects.

Green Perspective of General Container Service vs. Dedicated Container Service from Asia to Northern Adriatic

“…The use of a scrubber on ships to mitigate exhaust gases is also an attractive choice from an economic perspective compared to marine gas oil [17]. In addition, Kyaw Oo D'Amore et al [18] have shown that scrubbers with targeted design can also have a silencer function.…”

Sustainability in Maritime Transport: Advances, Solutions and Pending Tasks

“…When energy efficiency was investigated in a container terminal [1] it was concluded that there was a mutual interest for cooperation between the transport company and the terminal operator to mitigate truck congestion. When energy efficiency is achieved for onboard processes fuel reduction is obtained, but its emissions are still contaminated; more research papers aimed to reduce this effect using optimised scrubbers [2] to achieve a scrubber-silencer system. With the aim to reduce the emissions on board, different works aimed to analyse new combustibles like LNG or cold ironing [3,4] or electrical batteries [5], and other researchers propose the modification of ship [6] and port channels [7].…”

Mitigation of Ship Emissions: Overview of Recent Trends

“…In return for this growth, the environmental impact of intensive maritime operationsin particular, the pollutants emitted by ship exhaust gasescan no longer be ignored . The current initiatives, which focus on the development of ship-specific gas scrubbers, are an example of progressive steps toward an environmentally friendly maritime industry . Reflecting the growth of the global economy and trade activities, global seaborne trade has grown considerably over the past two decades .…”

“…2 The current initiatives, which focus on the development of ship-specific gas scrubbers, are an example of progressive steps toward an environmentally friendly maritime industry. 3 Reflecting the growth of the global economy and trade activities, global seaborne trade has grown considerably over the past two decades. 4 According to the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) held in 2020, international maritime trade has grown from more than 7500 million tons in 2006 to ∼11 billion tons in 2019; with the exception of the 4.2% contraction in the 2020 annus horribilis growth rate due to the recession/ pandemic (Figure 1).…”