Schiffstechnik | Ship
Schiffstechnik | Ship Technology 5 questions to … The market of scrubber manufacturers is quite fragmented. Do you expect any consolidation? What might be the role of Clean Marine therein? Alan Linderoth: Yes, we expect consolidation. Synergies can be differences in products, fabrication and sourcing, after sale, business model and location. Clean Marine will be open for proposals and actively pursue good opportunities. What is your ambition? Linderoth: We believe that the competitive elements will be the capital and operational costs of the installations, but also the flexibility the system can offer, for instance a switch to hybrid and closed loop operation and not the least the serviceability and support of the system. This needs to operate all the time and should be such that the onboard crew and management can solve any shortcomings themselves. In other words the uptime may be the most relevant competitive element. MENSCH UMWELT MASCHINE Abgasreinigungstechnik Rußpartikelfilter SCR DeNOx-Systeme Thermomanagement Schalldämpfer Funkenfänger Alan Linderoth, Vice President Sales, Clean Marine Fischer Abgastechnik GmbH & Co. KG Spatzenweg 17 48282 Emsdetten Telefon: +49 (0) 25 72 / 960 49-49 Fax: +49 (0) 25 72 / 960 49-50 E-Mail: Internet: There is an on-going debate about oil/fuel prices as important aspect for the chance of scrubber manufacturers and their business case – combined with huge efforts on alternative propulsion systems. What is your expectation? Linderoth: This is a complex topic. First of all, we believe compliant fuel, operation on distillate, LNG, LPG, Amonia, Methanol, electricity are complementary initiatives. And all are needed to achieve the goal to reduce health damages from particulate emission. Common for all initiatives are that they have pros and cons and price tags. Perhaps the compatibility issues related to complaint fuels will be as important as the price between heavy sulphur FO and compliant FO. Perhaps the some 10% extra CO2 related to conversion of heavy sulphur FO to distillate will count. What do you expect in terms of technological evolution of scrubbers? info@fischer-at.de www.fischer-at.de © Clean Marine »We expect consolidation in the scrubber market« Linderoth: The objective of Annex VI (both NO x and SO x removal) are to reduce particulate matters and number of premature deaths caused by particulate matters. To remove both NO x and SO x in one go may be one evolution, another may be to address other particulate matters – nano particles and black carbon which is as much caused by burning distillates and even gases. And finally no emission to sea could be a target. The politics seems to be not very open for the arguments of scrubber manufacturers. What should be done in this respect? Linderoth: We believe the scrubbers should be seen in a wider perspective. When IMO debated Annex VI back in 2005–2010 it was said that 50,000 premature deaths in Europe were caused by particulate matters. Onshore activities had addressed this issue by introducing scrubbers, filters and alternative fuels for decades and now shipping was called to do the same. It was recognized by IMO that to convert an industry in one go, you must let »all roads to Rome« be open. And that is why we have equivalent solutions like scrubber, LNG, compliant fuels etc. The elegant equivalence by scrubber is that this washing machine efficiently removes harmful particulate matter to be – the SO 2 – and convert same into harmless sulfate that the ocean is full of and needs. Yes, other species like soot and ash are captured in the washing process and ends in the sea. But so does the abundant quantity of sub 100 nano particles from burning distillate and also the identical amount of particles from burning compliant FO that may even land ashore and cause additional health damages. 54 HANSA International Maritime Journal 09 | 2019
Schiffstechnik | Ship Technology © PureteQ PureteQ expects stricter scrubber regulation While the debate about ecological and economical benefit of exhaust gas treatment systems is on-going, Anders Skibdal, CEO of scrubber manufacturer PureteQ, advocates a differentiated view on various questions The Danish company currently has five factories that are producing scrubber towers for its business. Talking to HANSA about the harsh competition, Skibdal argues that he does not aim to be the biggest supplier in the market, »but we aim to remain amongst the best and most reliable suppliers«, and more precisely the number of factories may slightly increase in the future. In general, he does not expect a lot of consolidation: »We are aware that there are a couple of manufactures up for sale. Also some manufacturers have sold all or part of their business to shipowners. Most of the new scrubber makers are suppling u-type scrubbers and it is hard to imagine that one u-type supplier would be interested in acquiring another maker that makes almost the same product.« Skibdal could however imagine that some of the very few i-type scrubber manufactures could be of interest to a u-type manufacturer in order to offer a complete product range and vice versa. Regarding the debate about fuel prices as important aspect for the business case of scrubbers, the CEO does not agree with the many maritime professionals that claim that scrubbers are only an interim solution.» If this should be the case, then we would see a lot of new and alternative solutions on the market. Of course there are other ways to comply with the 2020 Sulphur Cap than installing scrubbers, but scrubbers remain the most economically feasible solution for the majority of vessels.« He adds, the choice of abatement technology depends entirely on the price span between low sulphur oil and high sulphur oil. And he thinks that there also in the future will exist a considerable price span between fuels and thus that scrubbers continue to be one of the most important abatement technologies. Skibdal refers to the new study published by Norway’s SINTEF, one of Europe’s largest independent research organizations, in which Chief Scientist Elizabeth Lindstad concluded that from well-to-wake the continued use of heavy fuel oil (HFO) with a scrubber is the most environmentally beneficial means of meeting GHG emissions targets (see page 50). As a majority of new manufacturers on the market seem to be learning from the first generation of maritime scrubbers, the CEO in that respect expects very little innovation on the size and shaping of the scrubbers. For him, the innovation is primarily into the design and installation in order to lower the OPEX on the systems – energy consumption and maintenance cost. Reliability issues become growingly more important, as there is a huge difference in the OPEX on existing systems. »As the market learns who delivers the best systems, there will be a natural selection.« He believes that »in time there will be stricter legislation on the discharge limits and thus that more systems will become hybrid systems«. PureteQ delivers scrubbers for Maritime Universities as well. These scrubbers are used to produce wash water to test new water treatment methods. Skibdal says he therefore thinks that more affordable and reliable solutions will be available in a few years, and that many of the shipowners that have purchased hybrid ready systems will actually upgrade to hybrid systems. MM HANSA International Maritime Journal 09 | 2019 55
