it’s a “world premiere“, has already been welcomed by the air monitoring body and environmental activists. In Marseille, the French company La Méridionale has launched a ferry guaranteed to be particle-free, a promising innovation in an industry burdened by its carbon footprint. On PianoLa Méridionale’s flagship, operating between Corsica and Marseille, all engines now equipped with innovative filters, is fun.socksin metal cylinders that neutralize part of the polluting emissions.
This particulate filter (Fap), unveiled on Monday 5 September, after three years of testing not only captures 99% of sulfur oxides, as required by law, but also removes 99.9% of fine and ultrafine particles, the most dangerous : human health. “They go much further than required by regulations to treat all particulate emissions“Says Damien Piga, innovation director at regional air quality monitoring body Atmosud, who adds that he has “never heard of such projectseven through its collaborations in Europe and Asia.
“This is an unprecedented solution, the first in the world“, – claims the company’s president Mark Reverchon Piano which roughly reads “the world’s first zero ship“. “Until now, reducing sulfur oxide levels in fuel required either a less polluting fuel or a “scrubber” (system) that consists of “washing” the vapors with seawater.”, emphasizes Damien Piga of Atmosud. “Cleaners” installed in ships’ chimneys are controversial, as most shipowners equipped with them opt for an open circuit, releasing pollutants into the sea.
Ships are in port
Environmental pioneer La Méridionale, which transports cargo and passengers to Corsica or Morocco, has already electrified all its ships in Marseille.but it only dealt with a part of the ships’ work when they are at the quay– explains Mark Revershon, when 80% of emissions occur at sea. With the new filter, smoke no longer comes out. Piano, all his way. Its process has long been proven on land, for example, in thermal power plants. sodium bicarbonate injected at the engine outlet chemically reacts with particulates in the exhaust gases and then enters a bag filter where it will settle and capture particulates and heavy metals.
“They have “marinated” proven landGuillaume Picard, former commander and chief mechanic, activist of the environmental group “Stop cruises”, estimated. “IMO doesn’t enforce anything in terms of fine particles, so we can take our hats off to them for that– concludes the activist. Furthermore, in terms of regulations, Marc Revershon is proud to have made quite a progress as “that piano already meets the standards that will come into force in 2025”, particularly regarding the sulfur content of marine fuels, which will be limited to 0.1% in the Mediterranean.
The big ones, the cruise lines, will no longer have passengers if they don’t make this evolution
Renaud Mouselier, President of the Provence-Alpes-Côte d’Azur region
Renaud Mouselier, president of the Provence-Alpes-Côte d’Azur region, which contributed 40% to the financing of the filter, believes that this initiative of a small company can inspire “fats“, they”cruise passengers“:”They won’t have any more passengers on board if they don’t upgrade“. This summer, black smoke from cruise ships, many of them in the port of Marseille, has angered local residents and even the city’s mayor, Benoit Payant, who has challenged the state and the IMO.
Activist Guillaume Picard has only one question: what will happen to the waste produced by the new filter, the tons of residues. La Méridionale’s answer. The chemical company Solvay, which supplies the sodium bicarbonate, recovers the residue and buries it. However, according to Christophe Segino, technical director, “they work on recycling residues, particularly unreacted bicarbonate“.
La Méridionale is also working to drastically reduce its nitrogen oxide (NOx) emissions, a significant air pollutant, by installing a catalytic system on the Fap filter ‘hose’ for truly ‘zero emission’ ferries. In total, air pollution causes nine million deaths worldwide each year, and its annual economic impact for France is around €100 billion, mainly in health costs, according to Atmosud.
Source: Le Figaro
