How scrubbers will develop and be adopted in new markets going forward
While the scrubber market has been slower this year than the previous few years, there are still opportunities for growth, including their application as a precleaning step and to capture CO2.
CR Ocean Engineering (CROE) senior adviser Nicholas Confuorto says, “The scrubber market has been much slower than the previous few years as many shipping companies have shifted their attention towards decarbonisation. We are seeing most SOx-reducing scrubbers sold in the newbuild market. Additionally, there are still scrubber retrofits taking place in the operating fleets.”
The company has had several new deliveries of its scrubbers but is unable to disclose more.
He highlights how the role of the scrubber is developing hand-in-hand with decarbonisation, “Fortunately, scrubbers are also a very important aspect of decarbonisation. Scrubbers can be applied as a precleaning step to decarbonisation. In many cases, they ar also applied as the CO2 capture step. Until zero-carbon fuels become more established and more economical, I expect the industry will use carbon capture and storage (CCS) to get an immediate and proven start to their overall goals. CCS is proven and can be applied now in certain cases.”
But he points out there are still ’several roadblocks’ to a widespread application of CCS. The largest roadblock is widespread methods for the final disposal of the captured CO2.
Mr Confuorto explains, “At present there is a limited market for the CO2 (such as for use in local greenhouses or injection into deep wells) but to have a global impact, the disposal market must also be global. Some companies are building conversion plants where they can convert CO2 to e-methanol or green ammonia or some other useful product. We will need many of these to be dispersed around the globe. Additionally, there will be a need to transport the CO2 to these regional plants. We are starting to see large companies iterested in such a role. Once we can produce useful products from the captured CO2, then we can say we have benefited the environment.”
Homing in on the cruise ship and ferry market, he says, “There is still money to be saved in these markets by using HFO and applying scrubbers. Additionally, with decarbonisation coming up, the cleaning they are achieving from their scrubbers can be put to good use as a precleaning step before CCS and in some cases, the scrubbers themselves can be expanded to include CCS. It is an exciting time for the manufacturers as they see their next markets developing.”
CROE has developed a combined system that can be used for newbuilds or added to scrubbers already installed. It is starting a trial on a European vessel and is currently at the installation stage. The company expects to have final results and announcements by the middle of next year.