InnSep has partnered with INVENTAS AS and the Maritime activities and offshore operations (MAROFF) program to investigate use of Lynx Separator in the ships to compact the SOx and NOx removal from the exhaust.

Currently there are around 50,000 vessels sailing the seven seas that altogether consume about 370 million tons of heavy fuel oil a year. The sulfur content in the exhaust gases of ships should be reduced from
3.5 percent at present to 0.5 percent by the year 2020 according to the International Maritime Organization (IMO). As of 2015, there will even be a limit of 0.1 percent in the North Sea. This is a significant problem for many tankers, freighters and other types of vessels that operate in this region. This limit has already applied to all European ports since 2010. To comply, many will have to be converted to other fuels at great expense. A less expensive, but just as effective alternative is retrofitting with scrubbers (exhaust gas cleaning devices).

Shipping companies have already responded to the new and coming regulations. When new ships are built, therefore, the owners either attempt to do without heavy fuel oil or to equip them with scrubbers. However, for all vessels currently in operation on the seven seas it would be expensive and, in some cases, even impossible to convert them to other fuels. In this case it would be economically more efficient to retrofit them with a scrubber. The best performing scrubbers consumes 2-3% of the total engine power and can occupy volumes of up to 10 meters in height and 2-4 meters in diameter per exhaust line. To improve the effectiveness of the scrubbing process, it is suggested to pilot an installation of the Lynx Separator that is currently developed for Oil & Gas applications. The Lynx separator is 50% more compact in weight and volume and has less of the drawbacks of the conventional scrubber technology.

Reference information:
USEPA Report on Exhaust Scrubber Washwater Effluent
Maritime Cluster North Germany report on choosing Exhaust Scrubber Systems