Eco-environmental analysis of ship emission control methods: Case study RO-RO cargo vessel

Air pollution from ships mainly comes from using heavy fuel oils for power generation. Although, these fuels are economical, they produce significant amounts of pollutant emissions. Two methods can be considered to cope with the International Maritime Organization's new emission regulations, either by using diesel fuel or marine gas oil with exhaust gas reduction measures, or by using alternative fuels like Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG). The aim of the current research is to compare between these two methods from environmental and economic points of view. As a case study, medium speed RO-RO cargo vessel operating in the Red Sea area has been investigated. Results show specific environmental benefits of selective catalytic reduction method for reducing NOx emissions by 90% with cost effectiveness of 873.5 $/ton and SOx emissions by 98% with 3115 $/ton in case of using seawater scrubbing. On the other hand, LNG appears the optimum proposed solution from environmental and economic points of view. It reduces NOx, SOx and CO2 emissions by about 77.6%, 92.5% and 14.5% with cost effectiveness of 1486 $/ton, 4084 $/ton and 160.8 $/ton, respectively.