Eco-friendly selection of ship emissions reduction strategies with emphasis on SOx and NOx emissions

Increasing amounts of ships exhaust gases emitted worldwide forced the International Maritime Organization to issue some restricted maritime legislation for reducing the adverse environmental impacts arising from such emissions. Consequently, ships emission reduction became one of the technical and economical challenges that facing the ships operators. The present paper addresses the different strategies that can be used to reduce those emissions, especially nitrogen oxides and sulfur oxides. The strategies included: applying reduction technologies onboard, using of alternative fuels, and follows one of fuel saving strategies. Using of selective catalytic reduction and sea water scrubbing appeared as the best reduction technologies onboard ships. Moreover, among the various proposed alternative fuels, natural gas, in its liquid state; has the priority to be used instead of conventional fuels. Applying one of those strategies is the matter of ship type and working area. As a numerical example, the proposed methods were investigated at a high-speed craft operating in the Red Sea area between Egypt and the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. The results obtained are very satisfactory from the point of view of environment and economic issues, and reflected the importance of applying those strategies.