Chair’s Air Pollution Seminar

Monday, June 9, 2008
1:30 - 3:30 p.m.
Byron Sher Auditorium, Second Floor
1001 I Street, Sacramento

This event is being Webcast, click here to view
Webcast viewers: Please send your questions during broadcast to: auditorium@calepa.ca.gov
Presentation is available at this link

Emission Control Technologies for
Ocean Going Vessels (OGVs)

Hamid Rahai, Ph.D.

Department of Aerospace and Mechanical Engineering
California State University, Long Beach

Major California ports such as the Los Angeles-Long Beach ports are among the busiest in the United States, handling more than 43% of the total U.S. seaborne cargo.  They are also responsible for nearly a quarter of diesel emissions in the region.  Ocean going vessels (OGVs) contribute significantly to the local and regional air pollution.  These vessels use residual marine fuel which is one of the cheapest and highly polluting fuels.  Different approaches have been proposed for reducing OGVs emissions, including cold ironing, switching to low sulfur fuel during their operation at the port complexes, water-in-fuel homogenization and emulsification (H/E) process, and exhaust gas seawater scrubbing process  to name a few.  Many innovations in diesel engine designs are also proposed and/or being developed.  As expected, each technology has some strength as well as some limitations.

It is imperative for environmental regulatory bodies such as CARB/EPA to stay abreast of these developments and have a clear concise view of various technologies available or planed, their effectiveness as well as their limitations.  This project conducted a comprehensive review of diesel emission control technologies that are deemed applicable to existing and new ocean going vessels.  The focus was on present technologies and technologies under development by maritime as well as other industries.  It encompassed literature searches, other available information sources and surveys of academic, government and industry sources.  The information compiled included description of the technologies, their applicability to existing and new OGV’s, their strengths, limitations, and corroborating data and documentations when available.  The information was evaluated for consistency and organized in a comprehensive concise manner.