Rolls-Royce brand MTU and Fairplay Towage are set to test an MTU diesel genset with SCR exhaust after treatment in a harbor tug in order to verify compliance with IMO Tier III emission requirements that come into force as of 2016. According to the manufacturer, the nitrogen oxide (NO x) emissions will be cut by 90% compared with the IMO Tier I regulation that was introduced in 2000.
“This is one of the world’s first tests of high-speed diesel engines equipped with an SCR system designed to meet the NOx levels required by IMO Tier III,” said Dr. Michael Haidinger, Chief Sales Officer of Rolls-Royce Power Systems.
The new Fairplay tug with a bollard pull of 90 tons is currently being built in Spain at Astilleros Armon and is scheduled to go into service in the Port of Rotterdam as of 2015.
MTU is supplying the two main 16V 4000 M63L propulsion engines, each delivering 2,000 kW, a 16-cylinder 4000 M23F diesel genset rated at 1,520 kW, and the SCR system. The exhaust aftertreatment system, with selective catalytic reduction (SCR) technology, is connected to the diesel genset.
The tests on the Fairplay tug, which will run continuously for 10,000 hours, are designed to enable MTU to get ready for the series solution for IMO Tier III marine engines. As of 2016, newly built ships that operate in Emission Control Areas (ECA) in North American coastal waters and in the U.S. Caribbean will have to comply with the NO x limits specified in the IMO Tier III emission standards and the MARPOL Annex VI regulations of the International Maritime Organization.
Fairplay Towage with its registered office in Hamburg is one of Europe’s leading tugboat operators and operates a fleet of around 40 ships in Europe.
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(As published in the November 2014 edition of Maritime Reporter & Engineering News - http://magazines.marinelink.com/Magazines/MaritimeReporter)