Norfolk company tests device to monitor ship emissions

NORFOLK

In an industrial park near Norfolk International Airport, a team of engineers and technicians is preparing a device that could help global shipping lines meet tough new air-emissions standards.

Citing the public health risks from pollution generated by merchant ships, the United States and Canada in the spring asked the United Nations' International Maritime Organization to establish a 230-mile buffer zone - termed an "emissions control area" - around much of North America.

Oceangoing freighters entering emissions control areas will have to burn cleaner fuel, drastically reducing the emissions of sulfur oxides, nitrogen oxides and particulate matter that create smog and can pose significant public health risks, according to the Environmental Protection Agency.

Shipping lines will need to demonstrate that their vessels are in compliance with the new regulations, which already are on track for approval and could become effective as early as August 2012, the EPA says.

"This seemed like a good place for us to jump in," said David K. Edwards, senior vice president with the Norfolk division of WR Systems Ltd., a Fairfax-based engineering-services firm that specializes in Navy navigation and communications systems but is continuously looking for ways to diversify.

Edwards said his firm has been working on a laser-based system that will extract emissions from vessels' smokestacks and - within a 2- by-3- by-5-foot box - analyze them for various contaminant levels while plotting the ship's location with a GPS device.

The system will be capable of recording levels of sulfur oxides, nitrogen oxides, carbon dioxide and particulates.

Called a "continuous emissions monitoring system," the device is expected to be sold for less than $140,000 each, Edwards said.

WR Systems is testing a prototype with the help of Norfolk-based Maersk Line Ltd.

The pollution monitoring system passed preliminary tests on a run to New Jersey aboard the Maersk Georgia last month. It's now undergoing more extensive review on a trans-Atlantic trip on the Georgia, which is due back in Hampton Roads in early November.

Maersk officials "knew that these regulations were coming down the line, but there had to be an easier, cheaper way to be compliant," Edwards said.

WR Systems' technology, he said, is the first to enable extraction and measurement of both gases and particulate matter in one system.

"It's an attempt by Maersk to be more proactive in our compliance efforts with existing regulations and regulations that we know to be coming," said Tom Kiernan, a Maersk Line Ltd. project manager who specializes in environmental issues and performance monitoring. "It's another attempt to stay ahead of the curve. We were glad to offer up the platform."

If the system indicates the ships are above the regulatory threshold as they approached the zone, they could throttle back, simply reduce their speed, or switch to a low-sulfur fuel, which is mandatory in most ports anyway, said Megan Jones, maritime transportation project manager with WR Systems.

Though "scrubbers" in smokestacks are not widely used in the industry, those vessels equipped with them could activate them as well, reducing emissions, she added.

Some of the stricter emissions standards such as those proposed for the North American zone are already in effect in parts of Europe, Jones said. California - acting on its own - already has even tougher standards in place, she said.

Yet another set of new global standards, however, tiered for different classes and ages of vessels, is expected to kick in worldwide within the next couple of years, she added.

The industry has been anticipating the creation of a North American emissions control area for some time, said Anne Kappel, vice president of the Washington-based World Shipping Council, a trade group that represents the international liner-shipping industry on public policy issues.

"Ships will have to reduce harmful emissions," Kappel said. "We have gone on record endorsing that."

WR Systems' monitoring package has generated interest from shipping lines, engine manufacturers, firms that support the oil industry and certifying agencies such as the American Bureau of Shipping, Edwards said.

"I'm encouraged to note that companies are looking at ways to help the shipping industry, to provide tools for compliance, because the shipping industry is committed to reducing emissions and to safe and compliant operations," said Carleen Lyden-Kluss, executive director of the Connecticut-based North American Marine Environment Protection Association.

U.S. and Canadian ports see more than 93,000 vessel calls annually, and many more vessels that do not call on those ports still operate in affected shipping lanes, such as those en route to Mexico or South America, the EPA says.

The EPA says the creation of an environmental buffer protecting the North American coastline would save up to 8,300 American and Canadian lives a year by 2020.

The port of Hampton Roads is among more than 40 U.S. ports in metropolitan areas that fail to meet federal air-quality standards, according to the EPA.

Edwards says he believes WR Systems will offer a realistic, affordable way for those ships and their owners to comply with the law.

"The IMO is going to be looking for the ships to demonstrate that they're compliant," he said of the U.N. maritime agency. "We've developed a single system that will answer the mail for all the regulated emissions that must be measured and reported."

Robert McCabe, (757) 446-2327, robert.mccabe@pilotonline.com