How do I comply with the IMO 2020 sulfur cap?

On the 1st of January 2020, the IMO adopted a stringent SOx emission cap to improve air quality for a more sustainable future. If a ship does not comply with these new regulations, severe sanctions are involved. Sanctions can be debunking all non-compliant fuel oil, fines, or even imprisonment of the vessel's captain. As a ship's oil tank is designed to receive oil, it is not easy to pump it out. Thus, debunking a ship's oil tank is both complex and time-consuming, and it may cause significant delays and obstruct your operation.

The shipping industry has two options to comply with the IMO 2020 sulfur restrictions. 

Option 1:

Switch to a compliant fuel containing a lower amount of sulfur or alternative fuel with no sulfur.

Option 2:

Implement a marine scrubber to lower the SOx output and continue to operate on heavy fuel oil (HFO).

A scrubber, also known as an exhaust gas cleaning system (EGCS), is an air pollution control device that can reduce the SOx output in exhaust gases from 3.5 % to less than 0.1 %, allowing a ship to operate everywhere in the world, including the Emission Control Areas (ECA). Simultaneously, a scrubber will enable vessels to use HFO legally. HFO is, in most cases, much cheaper than low sulfur fuels. Thus, a scrubber delivers returns in the form of fuel cost savings. This secures low OPEX, which can quickly justify the CAPEX.

Whether a marine scrubber is a good investment highly depends on the fuel price spread. The price spread may easily be triple-digit per metric ton (mt). S&P Global Platts estimated a peak in the price spread between 0.5% and 3.5% fuel oil on the 3rd of January, 2020, at $321.5/mt on a FOB Rotterdam barges basis. Yet, the gap constantly changes. When the gap peaked in January 2020, a scrubber had a return on investment (ROI) in less than six months. Yet, a conservative return on investment is typically 1-3 years, which still ensures a prosperous financial outlook for scrubbers. You can calculate whether a scrubber is a good investment for your operation based on your fuel consumption and the fuel price spread. You can get an overview of the fuel price spread in real-time here. 

The open-loop, closed-loop, and hybrid scrubbers can secure both sustainable and financial growth. Closed-loop and hybrid scrubber technology is a market-proven and environmentally sound solution. The research and analyst firm CE Delft has conducted a study called Comparison of CO2 emissions of MARPOL Annex VI Options in 2020. They compare CO2 emissions from producing and installing scrubbers with CO2 emissions from producing and burning refined marine fuel. To this, CE Delft concluded that scrubbers lead to a 1.5-3 % rise in CO2 emissions for various relevant ships. Meanwhile, using low sulfur fuel leads to a 1-25 % rise in CO2 emissions. Thus, scrubbers have a significantly lower carbon footprint than alternative fuel options.

And the development is clear. A substantial number of vessels implement or retrofit to a hybrid scrubber or a closed-loop scrubber to maintain low OPEX by operating on cheaper heavy fuel oil. Today, more than 4,000 ships have installed or ordered a scrubber to avoid expensive low-sulfur fuels. Approximately 16 % of all vessels globally, corresponding to 36 % of all container carrying capacity, operate with scrubbers.

A marine scrubber can either be installed from new, or you can convert your open-loop scrubber to a hybrid or closed-loop scrubber. Yet, most often, the conversion is from open-loop to hybrid. Open-loop to hybrid or closed-loop conversion is essential for the marine industry. Many countries have banned open-loop scrubbers as this method discharges large amounts of sulfuric wash water effluent into the oceans, causing ocean acidification.

This is avoided with a closed-loop scrubber as this solution has an integrated alkali tank to neutralize the pH of the sulfuric scrubber wash water. The alkali tank will automatically dose the right alkali to maintain a balanced pH. To do so, sodium hydroxide (NaOH) or magnesium hydroxide (MgOH) is employed. pH adjustment is a significant advantage for the marine environment as it helps prevent ocean acidification