(EnergyAsia, January 22, Thursday) — Ecospec Global Technology Pte Ltd, a Singapore-based research and technology company specialising in advanced water and oil treatment technologies, said it has developed a new green technology that will remove greenhouse gas emissions and pollutants from ships. These emissions contribute to global warming and degradation of the ocean environment.

Ecospec said its device, CSNOx, reduces ships’ emissions of nitrogen oxide (NOx), sulphur dioxide (SO2), carbon dioxide (CO2) and particulate matter (PM) in a single process system.

The “scrubbing” process carried out by CSNOx is achieved at a net carbon credit gain without any net increase in CO2 to the atmosphere or acidifying the ocean. There is also no other secondary pollutants discharged into the sea.

Ecospec said CSNOx is also highly cost-effective and is easily installed on ships due to its compact design.

Drawing from its core technology in water and oil treatment in its development, Ecospec said it has successfully tested CSNOx onboard an ocean-going supertanker, jointly with the American Bureau of Shipping (ABS), a leading ship classification society, and a leading tanker shipping company.

The parties in this initiative, Ecospec, ABS and one of the world’s leading international tanker operators, are ready to showcase CSNOx to the international shipping community.

They claimed that the results of the test show that the device has 92.9%, 82.2% and 74.4% efficiency in “scrubbing” SO2, NOx and CO2 respectively.

Chew Hwee Hong, managing director and founder of the company, said: “This is a major breakthrough for the global shipping industry in general and for Ecospec, a homegrown Singapore company, in particular. Prior to CSNOx, there is no single equipment aboard ships with the capability to remove CO2, SO2, NOx and PM at a go, and not generate further CO2 emissions during the process or acidify the ocean. With the marine industry going green, Ecospec is proud to pioneer an all-in-one eco-friendly technology that is set to change the way the industry operates.”

The launch of CSNOx for commercial use is timely as regulators like International Maritime Organisation (IMO), which oversees implementation of the law of the sea, and shipowners have been taking steps to tackle pollution caused by ocean-going vessels.

Shipping companies are increasingly concerned about environmental issues following the introduction of international legislations such as the International Convention on the Prevention of Marine Pollution from Ships (MARPOL) in 1973.

There will be growing pressure on shipowners to clean up their act with the recent introduction of the Carbon Indexing Scheme, among other legislations, for CO2 management by IMO in 2005. The US and EU already have their own control measures which require all ships calling on their ports to comply with strict emissions requirements.

Apart from ships, Ecospec is also targeting to sell its product and services to oil refiners and power companies.