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Regulations

Emissions compliance and fuel efficiency: a double benefit

Kongsberg Maritime’s new Continuous Emissions Monitoring System (CEMS) uses comprehensive data gathering combined with industry-leading integration to help ship owners and operators prepare for new environmental regulations and make future proofing fleets easier.

  • Text:Global Marketing and Communication

    Photo:@Kongsberg Maritime

Environmental regulations are becoming increasingly stringent, leaving the maritime industry with the dual challenge of maintaining efficiency and ensuring compliance with international emissions standards.

Kongsberg Maritime’s new Continuous Emissions Monitoring System (CEMS) offers a robust solution to this challenge, providing owners and operators with the tools to prepare for the evolution of emissions regulations.

Know your emissions

CEMS uses advanced sensor technology to measure a wide range of greenhouse gases, including CO₂, CH₄, SO₂, NO, NO₂, and CO, which may be present in the exhaust. This provides accurate and continuous data so that ship operators can ensure compliance both now and in the future.

The system allows for comprehensive emission analysis and real-time monitoring which is impossible with traditional methods such as flow metering, which merely calculates emissions based on fuel consumption.

“Calculation methods are to some extent based on manual inputs and are inherently imprecise. In addition, they only give you half the picture. If the emissions start increasing with the same operational pattern, calculation methods are not able to give any insight into the combustion processes. With CEMS we can give the shipowner the full picture,” says Randi Østern, a Senior Project Manager with Kongsberg Maritime who led the development of the system. 

Randi Østern, Senior Project Manager in Project Engineering at Kongsberg Maritime

 With CEMS, owners can measure how much of each greenhouse gas is in the exhaust to find out more about what happened to the fuel in the engine 

Randi Østern, Senior Project Manager • Project Engineering

The system, which uses a cold dry extractive method, also guarantees that all emissions data from all combustion sources is accurately captured and stored for further analysis. This is vital in any decarbonisation plan.

“Ship owners need to comply with upcoming regulations that are tightening, year by year,” says Randi. “The key to future proofing vessels is emissions monitoring.” 
Randi also points to the quality of data recorded by CEMS. “This is what our clients want – reliable data from sensor to cloud.” 

Future proofing made easier

Kongsberg Maritime’s CEMS integrates tightly with the company’s K-Chief vessel automation system, which makes it much easier for a vessel’s crew to read and interpret emissions data. A single interface shows operational data along with emissions data. The system’s ability to automate and streamline the monitoring process reduces manual efforts and errors, enhancing overall operational efficiency.

The system also allows vessel owners and operators to make decisions on operational efficiency and thus focus on unexplored areas of cost savings. Real-time maintenance alerts to the crew ensure that any issues can be addressed promptly. 
This helps maintaining the accuracy of the emissions data and reduces the risk of non-compliance due to equipment failure. The modular design of CEMS is flexible and easy to install, making it ideal for existing vessels as well as newbuilds.

CEMS allows vessel owners to have greater confidence in their maritime assets. As environmental regulations evolve, having a reliable and advanced emissions monitoring system in place ensures that your vessels remain competitive with less stranded asset risk. 

Randi notes that most vessel owners have yet to invest in CEMS. “A lot of vessel owners are considering fleet-wide installation,” she says, “and we have worldwide support for this technology.”

Any CEMS will require regular maintenance, and Kongsberg Maritime has a global network of support centres that can assist vessel owners. Moreover, with K-Chief integration, diagnostic support can be done remotely with full cybersecurity protocols in place.

Kongsberg Maritime CEMS is a powerful part of an owner’s toolkit for future proofing fleets. By combining the data technology, integration and global support network, shipowners and operators can reliably and economically ensure emissions compliance. And that is in everyone’s interest.

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