Numerical methods for assessment of the ship's pollutant emissions

Abstract

The maritime transportation sector constitutes a source of atmospheric pollution. To avoid or minimize ships pollutant emissions the first step is to assess them. Two methods of estimation of the ships’ emissions are proposed in this paper. These methods prove their utility for shipboard and shore based management personnel from the practical perspective. The methods were demonstrated for a product tanker vessel where a permanent monitoring system for the pollutant emissions has previously been fitted. The values of the polluting agents from the exhaust gas were determined for the ship from the shipyard delivery and were used as starting point. Based on these values, the paper aimed at numerical assessing of ship's emissions in order to determine the ways for avoiding environmental pollution: the analytical method of determining the concentrations of the exhaust gas components, by using computation program MathCAD, and the graphical method of determining the concentrations of the exhaust gas components, using variation diagrams of the parameters, where the results of the on board measurements were introduced, following the application of pertinent correction factors. The results should be regarded as a supporting tool during the decision making process linked to the reduction of ship's pollutant emissions.