CTG Sea Sentry Washwater Monitor Installed On Scrubber Retrofit In China

CTG has announced that its Sea Sentry wash water monitoring system for ship exhaust gas cleaning systems has been installed in a Shandong Pure Ocean Technology scrubber, which has been retrofitted to Liberian-flagged bulk carrier BAO Glory, at the Weihai Xinhong shipyard in Weihai, China.

The installation represents one of the first scrubber retrofits to be carried out in a Chinese yard, a reflection of the industry-wide acceleration in the global scrubber market.

The installation of scrubbers is increasingly seen an attractive compliance option that affords owners and operators the opportunity to continue to burn Heavy Fuel Oil (HFO) at a lower cost.

A recent report from Lloyd’s Register stated that an expected 1000 to 1500 vessels will be fitted with scrubbers by 2020, with order slots for installation ahead of the implementation of the global sulphur cap nearing capacity. With limited time remaining and with installation capacity becoming scarce, yards in China will see increased uptake in scrubber installations as the government seeks to bring capacity in line with demand.

Whilst the economic case for installing scrubbers is clear for many vessel types and payback period is relatively short, scrubbers are a costly capital expenditure - ranging from $2m to $6m per unit - and so it is crucial that compliance with environmental regulations can be proven.

All varieties of wet scrubber systems use wash water which must be monitored at all times to avoid discharges that may exceed regulations and damage the environment. With an ever increasing number of scrubber units installed across the global shipping fleet, it is essential to ensure there is an accurate and robust monitoring capability in place to ensure compliance with wash water regulations.

CTG’s Sea Sentry provides a fully autonomous wash water monitoring system, which monitors both the water inlet and outlet of wet exhaust gas scrubber systems. The system has the ability to accurately measure the polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon, absorbance, turbidity (to ISO 7027: 1999), temperature and pH of scrubber wash water, and can monitor open-loop, closed-loop and hybrid scrubber systems, setting the gold standard for accurate wash water monitoring.