‘Inexpensive’ solution for dealing with ECA limits

The company says that the S3 Smart Sulphur Switch, offered at a price of €140,000, is primarily aimed at ships that occasionally need to enter an ECA, making investment in a scrubber, at some 20 times the cost, not viable. The unit will allow high-sulphur HFO and MGO to be blended, offering what is claimed to be an optimum balance between cost and sulphur emissions. Insatech sees a further application in ships such as Baltic ferries which have retro-fitted scrubbers but space limitations for the scrubbers restrict usable heavy fuels to those with comparatively low sulphur content. The S3 will allow high-sulphur HFO to be blended with lower sulphur fuels.

The switch is said to be capable of documenting fuel sulphur content, which enables monitoring and control of sulphur emissions.

Running costs for the S3 are said to be minimal – approximately equivalent to a 100W light bulb – less than 0.1% of the cost of running a scrubber, which involves pumping water, purchasing and storing chemicals, and disposal of residue. A scrubber has extremely high running costs in comparison as water Maintenance of the S3 involves solely annual calibration to ensure that the documentation generated will be accepted by authorities world wide. The unit is supplied on a skid mounting and requires only connection of HFO and gas oil lines, and a line for the blended fuel discharge, plus a standard electrical power plug.

Based on August 2013 prices of 3.5% sulphur HFO at $600/ton and 0.1% sulphur MGO at $900/ton, a vessel using 1 ton/hour could save about $6,000/day by blending the two fuels to 1% sulphur content compared to using only MGO. Trials are being carried out in collaboration with key customers of OW Bunker.