Singapore shipping emissions scrubbing invention makes waves

David Hughes, Business Times 22 Jul 09;

IT IS not often that I spend part of my weekend reading articles on keeping saltwater fish. In fact, it is unlikely to happen again. But I discovered an online aquatic journal that told me everything I needed to know about calcium in seawater.

Why, you may ask, would I want to know about that? The answer is: understanding that there are a lot of calcium ions in seawater, but they have water molecules firmly attached to them, was in my case the key to understanding why a Singapore company has just made what could be one of the biggest technical breakthroughs in the shipping industry since - oh, who knows? - containerisation, perhaps.

Regular readers of The Business Times shipping news pages will know about local firm Ecospec and its emissions scrubbing system.

What has perhaps not been fully appreciated until now is just what a huge achievement this is. But that is likely to change rapidly, and a presentation on the system at the headquarters of the International Maritime Organization (IMO) last week was probably a milestone in a transformation of the way Ecospec's CSNOx system is seen, both by the shipping industry and much more widely.

So why is this system so important? Basically because it is claimed to be able to meet current IMO regulations restricting nitrogen oxide (NOx) and sulphur oxide (SOx) emissions and - this makes it really exciting - it greatly reduces carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions.

So Ecospec managing director and founder Chew Hwee Hong was addressing a packed house when describing a system that could potentially not only solve the industry's problems with SOx and NOx but also holds the promise of enabling shipping to meet increasing pressure to cut CO2 emissions.

Scepticism

Now, it must be said that there is considerable scepticism about Ecospsec's claims within the industry. In fact, in many quarters there is outright disbelief. Last week, several industry insiders who expressed interest when talking to Ecospec representatives were privately dismissive. Why? Well, because if something looks too good to be true, it usually is. Ecospec and the Singapore government, which has put its credibility on the line by backing the company, now have to prove CSNox is an exception to that general rule.

It is worth stressing that if this system can perform as well as claimed, it will have a huge effect. It is pretty much a magic bullet that can sort out all the emissions issues facing the shipping industry. Crucially, it could make most of the difficult issues facing delegates at IMO's Marine Environment Protection Committee virtually disappear.

Ecospec claims its system can reduce CO2 emissions by about 75 per cent. If that can be achieved, it would be fantastic. But even a much lower reduction would be impressive, given that shipping currently has no way of taking CO2 out of engine exhaust.

Last week's presentation was an opportunity to put some hard facts in front of the shipping community.

Crucially, classification society ABS, acting on behalf of the Singapore government, verified that CSNox achieved significant results in reducing emissions, including CO2, when tested on a shore-based rig.

The levels of CO2 removal verified by ABS were not as high as those reported from an initial test on Tanker Pacific's tanker Coral Sea last December, when over 74 per cent of CO2 was removed, but still about 30 to 55 per cent was taken out of the emissions stream.

And Mr Chew is certain higher percentages can be achieved by onboard installations.

Thomas Tan, ABS vice-president, Southern Pacific Region, said: 'While instruments have been erratic up to this point, tests do indicate the significant and consistent ability of the set-up to remove substantial nitrogen oxide (NOx), sulphur oxide (SOx) and CO2.'

The next step will be more sea trials this year on another tanker.

This time, the equipment's operation will be monitored by ABS. The intention is that the Maritime and Port Authority of Singapore will issue type approval as an SOx scrubber after successful completion of these trials.

Mr Chew told me the rig being fitted to the tanker for the trials is a full production version and that other units are now under construction for owners who have already committed to use the technology. He expects something like 30 onboard installations to be operating within a year.

Advanced maritime R&D

That is good news for Ecospec and for Singapore. While much of the fabrication of the units will be done abroad, the high-tech bits will be done here. The technology is entirely entirely Singaporean, and continuing research and development of this and other systems based on the same principles will definitely help push Singapore as a centre of advanced maritime R&D.

So what about the calcium content of seawater? Well, one of the many questions from the floor to Mr Chew was whether CO2 would be produced when calcium ions were released from seawater to capture CO2 by creating calcium carbonate.

The question was not really answered as there was confusion about what the questioner was asking. My 'O' Level chemistry is all long forgotten, so I thought I had better find out whether there is indeed a supply of calcium ions in seawater. It turns out there is, but they cannot easily be put to use because they are essentially locked in by water molecules.

That's where Ecospec's invention comes into play. Its Ultra-Low Frequency Electrolysis System (ULFELS) excites these calcium ions and enables them to react with the CO2.

Exactly how ULFELS works is Mr Chew's secret and is the key to a number of innovations Ecospec has been working on.

He says that 'doing something about emissions' only came up last year, and initially Ecospec focused on IMO requirements to deal with SOx and NOx. But when the rig was tested, it was discovered that a large percentage of CO2 was also removed.

That discovery means Ecospec and Singapore could have a winner on their hands - big-time.