TransAtlantic and Stora Enso have signed and started the installation of the first order of a new innovative scrubber that washes out sulphur oxides from ship exhaust gases in a totally closed loop. It has taken years to find a solution that is able to coop with the fresh water and ice conditions in the Bothnia Bay during winter. It has been important to find a solution that not only meets the operation requirements but also high demands on sustainability. A closed loop has been one of the main criteria, which means that removed sulphur stays on board and is delivered ashore for waste extraction.
The difficult operational conditions at TransAtlantic´s core markets are for example tough ice conditions and winter climate. For scrubber systems specifically, an additional constructional constrain is that our vessels sail in water with low salinity and far up north in the Baltic Sea almost totally fresh water.
The scrubber solution chosen is called cSOx, which is bought from Ecospec in Singapore. The cSOx system has been developed for installation on board ships and especially for operations in the Baltic Sea region. cSOx is evaluated to be an efficient SECA 20151 compliant solution for existing vessels.
“The sulphur reduction system, which will run in fresh water in northern Gulf of Bothnia with difficult ice conditions and extreme cold, has been a challenge. We are happy that we found a solution that finally meets these requirements in partnership with Stora Enso.” Heléne Mellquist CEO Transatlantic AB
The development of this new scrubber type has been done by the manufacturer Ecospec in deep cooperation with TransAtlantic Ship Management and Stora Enso. The project has been carried out in a pilot project2 under the Zero Vision Tool3.
The project was presented publicly by Stora Enso and TransAtlantic Ship Management at the Motorways of the Sea Conference, Sustainable Shipping for Reduction of Emissions in Gothenburg 18-19th of November.