Gaseous Emissions from a Seagoing Ship under Different Operating Conditions in the Coastal Region of China

Abstract

Pollution caused by ship emissions has drawn attention from various countries. Because of the high density of ships in ports, channels, and anchorages and their proximity to the densely populated areas, ship emissions will considerably impact these areas. Herein, a Chinese seagoing ship is selected and a platform is established for monitoring the ship emissions to obtain detailed characteristics of the ship’s nearshore emissions. The ship navigation and pollution emission data are obtained under six complete operating conditions, i.e., berthing, manoeuvring in port, acceleration in a channel, cruising, deceleration before anchoring, and anchoring. This study analyzes the concentrations of the main emission gases (O2, NOX, SO2, CO2, and CO) and the average emission factors (EFs) of the pollution gases (NOX, SO2, CO2, and CO) based on the engine power under different operating conditions. Results show that the change in O2 concentration reflects the load associated with the main engine of the ship. The NOX, SO2, and CO2 emission concentrations are the highest during cruising, whereas the peak CO emission concentration is observed during anchoring. The average EFs of NOX and SO2 based on the power of the main engine are the highest during cruising, and those of CO2 and CO are the highest after anchoring. The ship EFs are different during acceleration and deceleration. By comparing the EFs along the coast of China and the global EFs commonly used to perform the emission inventory calculations in China, the NOX EFs under different operating conditions is observed to be generally lower than the global EFs under the corresponding operating conditions. Furthermore, the SO2 EF is considerably affected by the sulfur content in the fuel oil and the operating conditions of the ship. The average CO2 EFs are higher than the global EFs commonly used during cruising, and the CO EFs are higher than the global EFs under all the conditions. Our results help to supplement the EFs for this type of ship under different operating conditions, resolve the lack of emission data under anchoring conditions, and provide data support to conduct nearshore environmental monitoring and assessment.