Marine Air Pollution: Scrubber manufacturers take on maritime GHG emissions, by Craig Jallaly – Scrubber experts relayed their experience of retrofit installation, wastewater monitoring and lowering the closed-loop scrubber carbon footprint during the Marine Air Pollution, Europe conference during a session sponsored by Yara Marine Technologies.

Full article by Craig Jallal for Riviera

During the session, Chelsea’s Matthew Kenney tackled the topic of wash water monitoring:

Questions about open-loop scrubber wash water

Wash water was the topic tackled by monitoring system provider Chelsea Technologies business development manager Matthew Kenney. Chelsea Technologies is the provider of the Sea Sentry IMO-compliant wash water monitoring system. He noted that around 80% of scrubbers in use are open loop, meaning that seawater is pumped into the gas desulphurisation unit and back out to sea.

“The whole issue of waste water is poised to be a more pressing issue throughout 2021,” he said. This is because the rules have not been set and “Wash water rules are sitting in the awkward guidelines space as an annex to the main regulations,” he said.

IMO rules and guidelines on wash water are drafted by the Pollution Prevention and Response sub-committee, which undertakes the work on behalf of the Marine Environment Protection Committee (MEPC). This is the body that ratifies regulations.

The key takeaway, noted Mr Kenney, is that revised guidelines for wash water, known as 2020 EGCS Guidelines are likely to be approved at MEPC 75 and come into force in May 2021.

The second key point Mr Kenney presented was the outcome of the findings of a joint group of experts on the scientific aspects of marine environmental protection, known as GESAMP. The findings were inconclusive and it is likely that further studies will be undertaken. The long-term outcome, according to Mr Kenney, is that wash water will have a greater focus at IMO, pointing toward an increase in scrutiny and stricter requirements for wash water monitoring.

Read about Chelsea’s wash water monitoring solution