published Mon, February 13, 2012
Alfa Laval signs contract with Spliethoff
Alfa Laval, a major equipment supplier to the marine industry, has signed a contract with Spliethoff, a leading player in the transport market. It covers the retrofit of a multiple inlet PureSOx exhaust gas cleaning system on board one of Spliethoff’s vessels which operates mainly in the North European ECA area.
It is the first order received by Alfa Laval for such a multiple
inlet system. Since the vessel's engines have a combined rated
output of 28 MW, this will be the largest marine scrubbing system
ever sold. It can therefore be seen as a step forward in preparing
the maritime transport industry for the stringent environmental
requirements that will take effect from 2015.
The system is the first to utilize just one scrubber to clean
the exhaust gases for the main as well as the auxiliary engines.
René Diks, Manager, Marketing & Sales, Exhaust Gas Cleaning,
Alfa Laval: "For the retrofit market, where space and weight are
critical issues, it is essential to be able to supply a single
scrubber that handles exhaust gases from all the ship's engines.
Other advantages include lower energy consumption, less piping and
lower maintenance costs."
Alfa Laval already has another system in successful operation on
DFDS Ficaria Seaways. This system treats the exhaust gas of a 21 MW
MAN main engine and is currently the largest scrubber in operation
in the market. To date, the system has completed more than 4,000
operating hours.
Important development for Spliethoff
Frank Louwers, Director of Spliethoff, explains that the investment
in this technology ensures that Spliethoff will be well prepared to
meet the upcoming sulphur legislation in 2015 (0.1% limit) in
European and American ECA waters. It is expected that the scrubber
installation will deliver significant environmental benefits.
"Financially, sailing on low sulphur marine gas oil is simply
not an alternative for a company wishing to remain a dominant
player in this market segment," says Louwers. "Already today the
price difference between heavy fuel oil and low-sulphur MGO with
0.1% sulphur is approximately USD 300 per tonne.
A unique hybrid system
PureSOx, with a sulphur removal rate of more than 98%, is a unique
hybrid system that can operate on either sea water or fresh water.
The ability to operate the system in sea water mode will provide
significant savings on caustic soda and fresh water consumption. In
areas with low alkalinity the system will switch to fresh water
mode. In this mode the water used for cleaning the exhaust gas is
circulated in a closed system with zero discharge to the
environment. Alfa Laval high speed separation technology is used to
clean the effluent to ensure compliance with effluent water
discharge criteria.
Flexible and economical
To minimize the energy consumption of the scrubber, the water flow
is automatically adjusted to the engine power. The system is also
designed to vary the water flow depending on the sulphur content in
the fuel.
René Diks, Alfa Laval: "With PureSOx installed, shipowners can
continue operating on high sulphur heavy fuel oil instead of more
expensive low sulphur marine gas oil, while meeting increasingly
strict IMO regulations regarding sulphur oxide emissions.
The Spliethoff Group
The Amsterdam-based Spliethoff Group is one of the largest
shipowners in the Netherlands. The Group consists of Spliethoff and
its subsidiaries BigLift Shipping (heavy lift), Wijnne Barends
(short sea), Transfennica (liner services) and Sevenstar (yachts).
The Group owns and operates a large, modern fleet of well over 100
multipurpose, heavy-lift and ro-ro vessels, ranging in size from
2,100 to 23,000 tonnes. All Spliethoff Group vessels have 1A Ice
Class and several even 1A SUPER. They all sail under the Dutch
flag.
Date: 13/02/2012