Wärtsilä offers SOx scrubbing technology

Wärtsilä Corporation initiated in 2006 a two-year development project to test scrubbing plant for removing sulphur oxides (SOx) from the exhaust gases of marine diesel engines and oil-fired boilers. The project involves testing of scrubbing equipment on marine engines burning typical grades of heavy fuel oil.

The objective of the project is to study the equipment’s performance in realistic applications, to identify any difficulties in utilising such scrubbing equipment onboard marine installation and to design complete exhaust gas cleaning system compliant to IMO requirements and other regulations. The project will investigate the effect of scrubber design on performance, lifetime and economy, the effect of scrubbing equipment on engine performance, installation requirements, discharge water criteria, ecological impact etc.

Through this project Wärtsilä, as the leading supplier of ship power plant and related services, develops unique knowledge and expertise about scrubbing technology for both new buildings and retrofit installations. It is envisaged that any results obtained from the project will be equally applicable to any two-stroke or four-stroke engines in the Wärtsilä marine engine programme as well as to any other brand.

There are currently no modifications that could be made to diesel engines or boilers to reduce SOx emissions. The only ways to reduce SOx emissions are either to burn fuels with lower sulphur content or to after-treat the engine exhaust gases.