In accordance with Annex VI, IMO limited the sulphur content of the global fuel oil, and designated the Emission control area(Baltic Sea, North Sea, North American, US Caribbean Sea ECA) which restricted emissions of sulphur oxides and nitrogen oxides, restricted emissions from the halon emissions of the HCFCs.
This reinforced the use of fuel oil, which content not more than 3.5% sulphur content from 2012 to all ships, requiring the use of heavy fuel oil with 0.1% sulphur content that operates in the emission control area beginning in 2015.
Also, NOx Tier Ⅲ standard which is more stringent emission limit for engines enforced from 1 January 2016 in NECA as per the MEPC 66th session.
NOx Tier Ⅲ standards are 80% less than NOx Tier Ⅰ standard. Current NECA areas are the North American area and the US Caribbean Sea area.
But recently, during MEPC 70th session, the Committee agreed to designate the North Sea and the Baltic Sea as NECA with an effective date of 1 January 2021.
In response, shipping industry is trying to comply with various environmental regulations and is considering various ways to satisfy the requirement of NOx TIER III operation.
LNG as a fuel is gaining acceptance in maritime applications as an emission control measure for NOx. Also, there are ways to comply with regulation, such as using exhaust gas treatment system, SCR, EGR.
This study examines the pollutants emitted by the vessels, the air pollution regulations, and analyzes current techniques such as exhaust gas treatment system and replacement of alternative fuels.
It also analyzes operating hours, fuel consumption, and sailing profile by targeting large container ship which operating NECA, North America area, which mainly operates that area.
Moreover, it can be used to analyze the characteristics of the engine load for ships operating NECA and to use the sailing profile, which is important design requirements of SCR.
Finally, it calculates the design capacity of the exhaust gas treatment system based on the analysis data of sailing profile for existing ships.
So, it will show that the capacity of the exhaust gas treatment system can be reduced according to the sailing profile.