Since the 0.1% sulfur ECA went in effect, shipping companies have been searching for a sustainable balance between complying with sulfur regulations and the higher costs for the low sulfur fuel.  A little more than one year ago, the American Steamship Company (www.americansteamship.com) reached that balance by installing two CR OCEAN ENGINEERING (CROE®) scrubbing systems for the two main engines on the American Spirit bulk carrier.   The American Spirit travels the Great Lakes and as such is always subject to 0.1% Sulfur ECA regulations.

CROE® supplied two of it’s well known exhaust gas cleaning systems (scrubbing systems) for the American Spirit.  The smaller dimensions of the CROE® scrubbing system make retrofitting an existing ship a perfect application, but it is also a great application for newbuilds.  The CROE® scrubbing systems are available in multiple configurations to meet the vessel’s specific needs: a) as a once through scrubber, also known and "Open Loop"; b) as a recirculating scrubber, also known as "Closed Loop", and c) as a combination of both designs, also known as "Hybrid."  Each configuration can then be supplied as individual in-line design or as multi-stream.   The CROE® system does not require a bypass.  Its small size minimizes ship modification and makes this technology an excellent choice for cruise ships, ferries, bulk carriers, containerships, RoRo and others.  Several CROE® systems are now operating successfully on various type of vessels.  All operating CROE® scrubbers are meeting sulfur equivalency requirements.  Among the CR OCEAN ENGINEERING clients one can find other notable leaders such as Royal Caribbean, STENA and others.

The CROE® scrubbing systems have the ability to automatically adjust their operation to always meet the required stack emissions.  Mr. Nicholas Confuorto, President and Chief Operations Officer of CR Ocean Engineering LLC., said that “we design our systems to be as easier to install, operate and maintain.  We want our clients to focus on operating the vessel and not to be concerned about our system’s operation.  I believe we have achieved that in our scrubber design.  All of our systems are designed with the ability to automatically adjust their optimum operation to meet requirements and to do so efficiently and cost effectively.  We want our systems to be the pride of our client’s on-board crew. ”