Lloyds Approves New Scrubber Technology

The Netherlands-based Value Maritime has received the International Air Pollution Prevention (IAPP) certificate from Lloyds for its scrubber system.

A press release from the engineering and ship financing company said that most of the tests required to obtain certification had been performed during installation.

"Since the Value Maritime scrubber uses a new innovative technology, we had to further demonstrate its performance outside SECA in order to receive class approval," it said.

"To this end, the scrubber system was put to test under diverse and extreme conditions on the first vessel on which it was installed. This was undertaken while the vessel was doing its voyages between the Netherlands and Russia. Value Maritime has a live data connection with the system allowing us to monitor all data remotely. In addition, our commissioning engineer was onboard to train the crew during the first voyage," the release said.

It claimed that the scrubber performance exceeded its expectations substantially and ensured compliance with the IMO 0,1% Sulphur cap (SECA) for vessels from 2.0 MW to 6.0 MW.

"We are currently finalizing new commercial orders for our Scrubber system and look forward to supplying many vessels across the world in the coming years; and help reduce costs for shipping companies while preserving the environment," it said.

“In the entire discussion about banning scrubbers in ports and coastal waters, we feel authorities forget the harmful effect that ultra-fine particulate matter has on people and the environment. The exhaust from Marine Gas Oil has an even higher count of ultra-fine particulate matter and thus poses an increased health risk. Our unique scrubber system also filters ultra-fine particulate matter and will therefore benefit the environment while operating in ports and coastal waters using either Marine Gas Oil or HFSO,” said the release.

“Regarding  open- or closed loop systems. We see that shipowners mostly decide to choose their scrubbers hybrid ready. We have prepared our scrubber to be compatible as an openloop, closed loop or hybrid system, depending on the customers preference," it concluded.