According to the atmospheric environment regulation of the International Maritime Organization (IMO), the direction of shipbuilding and shipping industries has changed. As emission regulations are already formulated, regulations on nitrogen and sulfur oxides are being implemented, and the scope of implementation will gradually expand to the emission control area.
The development of carbon-neutral global policies to prevent global warming indicates that the future industrial direction will prioritize eco-friendliness, and in particular, the significant transition from the petroleum industry that causes global warming to eco-friendly energy. There is no choice but to face the task ahead.
Already, higher levels of emission regulations have been established in the automotive industry. Leading companies are preparing to switch to eco-friendly and convenient power sources by reducing production lines for internal combustion engines and expanding production lines for electric vehicles and hydrogen cars. This approach is becoming a reality that should soon be directed to ships transporting large cargoes.
However, the transition to eco-friendly ships is unlikely to occur immediately, as ships are not easily converted and discarded but are built with large invested capital and are regularly repaired and inspected when built for approximately 20 years.
In this study, we aim to investigate the current status of air emission regulations for ships, their impact on the human body and the environment, the regulatory trends, and commercial, technological methods designed to reduce air emissions.
The study will focus on nitrogen oxides, which are currently under regulation. Selective catalytic reduction (SCR) is a typical method of reducing nitrogen oxides. SCR is divided into high-pressure SCR and low-pressure SCR (LP-SCR), depending on if it is installed at the front or rear of the turbocharger of the ship engine.
In Mokpo National Maritime University's training ship, Segero, an LP-SCR installed at the rear end of the ship engine supercharger owing to the ship structure characteristics, requires space flexibility. It will be verified whether the NOx reduction performance of the ship satisfies the IMO emission regulations.
We will investigate the installed LP-SCR specifications, system configuration, system operability, and whether it satisfies the emission regulation requirements during actual operation. Furthermore, we will examine the LP-SCRs exhaust mounted on the main and generator engines and perform analysis using gas measurement data.
In addition, the problem of back pressure raised by mounting a post-treatment device will be verified, and possible improvements to satisfy the requirements of future emission regulations will be evaluated and considered.