Emissions monitoring breakthrough ahead of MARPOL

The patent pending Continuous Emissions Monitoring System (CEMS), developed by WR Systems, Ltd (WRSystems), claims to be the first technology integration of its kind. A successful land based test of the CEMS prototype was performed in August 2009.

Stringent new regulations regarding vessel emissions are forthcoming from US and worldwide governments and maritime organizations. WRSystems developed the new technology to help the maritime industry meet these new regulations and reduce their carbon footprint. The company, for more than a decade, has been developing sophisticated, high reliability critical sensor systems for the US Department of Defence.

‘With the CEMS, a vessel manager, in minutes, can provide an inspector or port regulatory authority with an already formatted emissions report that gives real time, GPS stamped data, said Dave Edwards, senior vice president and director of WRSystems’ Engineering Services Division in Norfolk. ‘Development of the CEMS has been market driven. We’re providing the maritime industry with a highly accurate, very reliable, and cost effective solution to the challenges coming from new regulations that begin on July 1, 2010.’

The space efficient CEMS is a 3’ by 5’ by 2’ laser driven, single enclosure device that can continuously monitor emissions and provide automated analysis and data recordings from multiple smokestacks and boilers. An interface with the Global Positioning System (GPS) provides real time vessel location data from a single system. The CEMS claims to be the first to provide both multiple gas and particulate matter emission data with acute accuracy, minimal maintenance, and no calibration requirement. Current emissions monitoring compliance ranges from annual engine inspections to the reading of smokestacks and boilers, one at a time, using a portable device bolted to the source for a single time measurement.

The new technology will enable container ships, tankers, cruise ships, and other ocean going vessels to better manage and meet the growing global requirements for smaller carbon footprints. A recent amendment to MARPOL Annex VI Maritime Emissions Regulations, which is directed by the International Maritime Organization (IMO), mandates strict emissions reporting, compliance, and enforcement beginning July 1, 2010.

The CEMS can continuously monitor, analyze, and record emissions from all of a ship’s smokestacks. It analyzes and records nitrogen oxides (NOx), sulfur oxides (SOx), and carbon dioxide (CO2), as well as particulate matter (PM). GPS interface data tracks actual vessel position to support regulatory requirements in Emission Control Area (ECA) zones, which usually begin 20 to 25 miles off the coastline of major ports and cities.

An at sea analysis of the CEMS on a Maersk cargo vessel started recently. Certification of the system by the American Bureau of Shipping (ABS), an international organization that sets marine and offshore classification standards, is projected for next month. Product release is slated for Spring 2010. The system has applications for approximately 80,000 ocean going vessels, primarily diesel engines. WRSystems will manufacture and market CEMS to clients globally, including the shipping, cruise, tugboat, and inland waterway transportation industries.