Students get creative on sulphur detection

TIN news:  The Danish Maritime Authority announced that on Wednesday evening, May 3, six teams of engineering students presented their innovative ideas on the the SOx Challenge, to a panel of judges from industry and the public sector. The students were asked, for the first time, to apply their knowledge and creativity to the problem of detecting violations of the international regulation of sulphur emissions.

“In a very short time we have gotten six fresh, innovative perspectives on a problem that is shared by almost every Coastal- and Flag State in the world – the need for effective and uniform enforcement to ensure a level playing field for the industry”, says Director of Maritime Regulation and Legal Affairs at the Danish Maritime Authority, Henriette Bytoft Flügge.

The idea was introduced by a team of private companies and authorities. The students worked in cross-disciplinary teams which enabled them to cast away limitations and to propose solutions. The competition and the prizes were sponsored by the Danish Maritime Fund.

“As an example, one team is working with a two-step solution looking at both SOx deposition in the stack and ships monitoring each other en route”, says Head of DTU Skylab, Mikkel Sørensen.

Other ideas included a tamper free black box mounted on ships, that collect emissions data and even a new concept for extending the reach of surveillance drones, to make them a viable solution.

The 1st place went to the above mentioned solution based on commercial ships equipped with sensors that measure emissions from other ships passing by. The results will automatically be relayed to authorities in the target ships’ next port of call. This is then followed up with the second element of the winning solution where Port State Control will analyse the sulphur content of the soot from the ships’ stack to use as proof of non-compliance. The team behind this concept was praised for having combined several innovative elements to arrive at a holistic solution.

“We are extremely happy to participate in this project given the role of EMSA in supporting EU authorities in the effective enforcement of the sulphur regulations. The students have demonstrated their commitment to a sustainable and environmentally friendly future and the winning project in particular has the potential for further research and implementation in the near future”, says Senior Project Officer at EMSA, Sergio Alda.

While developing their projects, the student teams were supported by mentors from each of the partnering organisations, Boeing Company, Maersk, the Danish Technical University, The Danish Environmental Protection Agency and The Danish Maritime Authority.

During the finals on Wednesday evening, the partners had allied themselves with EMSA (the European Maritime Safety Agency) to form a judging panel. All the project ideas were pitched by their inventors and assessed according to predetermined criteria on effectiveness, implementing cost and others.