SBIR Phase I:Biological Treatment of Hydrocarbons in Shipboard Exhaust Gas Cleaning Systems

This SBIR Phase I project proposes to test the efficacy of scrubber water treatment systems to treat hydrocarbon contaminants in the scrubber water from the exhaust gas cleaning system. What are the broader/commercial impacts of the proposed project? The broader/commercial impact of the proposed project will be to enable ships to meet new regulations adopted by the International Maritime Organization which become effective in July 2010. Ships will be required to either install scrubbing equipment for removal of sulfur compounds from residual fuels currently burned, or they will need to switch to more costly low sulfur distillate fuels. A switch to low sulfur fuel would increase current fuel costs by over 88%.