Two More NCL Ships Scrubbing SOx Emissions

NCL Miami-based cruise company Norwegian Cruise Line has completed the retrofitting of a new exhaust gas cleaning system (EGCS) on two of its ships, Norwegian Sun and Norwegian Jade. The new systems are aimed at significantly reducing air emissions and, subsequently, the ships environmental footprints, in conjunction with the lines Sail & Sustain environmental program. The ships new lightweight in-line scrubbers are a hybrid technology developed by Yara Marine Technologies that are able to operate in open loop, closed loop and closed loop with bleed off mode. In each ship, five scrubbers were installed, one per engine, covering the whole propulsion system. Collectively, they are capable of reducing the emission of sulfur to air up to 99 percent and also reduce 85 percent particulate emission to the air. Norwegian Jade and Norwegian Suns new technology will reduce the equivalent of around 3,000 tons of sulfur oxide (SOx) gas in the years to come, NCL informed. The new system works by scrubbing away the sulfur oxide and particulate matter before the emissions leave the stack to decrease the amount that is released into the air, resulting in a clean white plume of steam. In 2014, Norwegian Cruise Line revealed its plans to retrofit six vessels with the techonology, and has now exceeded its initial aim with eight ships in total as Norwegian Jade and Norwegian Sun join Norwegian Pearl, Norwegian Gem, Norwegian Escape, Norwegian Joy and Pride of America and the lines newest ship sailing in June 2018, Norwegian Bliss. Norwegian led the industry by being the first cruise line to install scrubbers with a state-of-the-art water membranes filtration unit in 2016. This water cleaning system uses Ultrafiltration technology to clean the recirculated water during the closed loop operation down to clear water. The by-product is collected and removed in drums. NCL said that it is on track to meet its MARPOL Annex VI compliance goal of reducing its global sulfur cap from 3.5 percent to 0.5 percent by 2020.