Development of hybrid electron accelerator system for the treatment of marine diesel exhaust gases

Our reasoning: ships are among the largest polluters in the world – the fuel used for their operation, IFO 380, burns down sulfur dioxide (SO2) and nitrogen monoxide (NO), respectively called SOx and NOx. However, the International Maritime Organization has adopted stricter conditions – The 2020 global Sulphur limit, which aims to reduce the release of harmful substances by 2020. Therefore, maritime industry needs to find innovative solutions – either to use cleaner and hence more expensive fuels, or to clean emissions before they enter the atmosphere.

To solve this crucial environmental problem project consortium members altogether will use innovative particle accelerator technology for ship diesel exhaust gas treatment to meet new ecological regulations. Scientists offer to clean emissions by placing a particle accelerator inside the vessel’s mechanism, to be more precise – inside the funnel – that would use an electron beam to irradiate exhaust gas created after burning the fuel, dividing it into «easy fractions» The «processed» emissions can later be cleaned with traditional methods, consuming much less energy and not using ammonia, as well as, which is particularly important, cleaning both SOx and NOx at the same time.

The feasibility of the above-mentioned idea a will be proven under ARIES Proof of Concept umbrella where project consortium is created. Riga Technical University is a leading partner of the consortium and includes following partners to have all the necessary expertise within the implementers of the project:

1. Institute of Nuclear Chemistry and Technology – INCT (Warsaw, Poland)
2. The European Organization for Nuclear Research – CERN (Geneva, Switzerland)
3. Fraunhofer Institute for Organic Electronics, Electron Beam and Plasma Technology – FEP (Dresden, Germany)
4. The University of Huddersfield, Accelerator Applications Group – UH (Huddersfield, UK).
5. Remontowa Marine Design – Remontowa (Gdansk, Poland)
6. Milgravja Tehnoloģiskais Parks – Riga Ship Yard – RKB (Riga, Latvia)
7. BIOPOLINEX Sp. z o.o.(Lublin, Poland)

Moreover, the work on this novel concept implementation has already started - the Proof of Concept project kick off meeting was held on 11th November in Warsaw this year. For two years the technology must be developed, and its efficiency proved cleaning real marine diesel exhaust gases.

Where? The final experiments on ships exhaust gas treatment will take place at Riga Shipyard. Particle accelerator will be provided by FEP and hybrid scrubber system will be developed by INCT and Remontowa.