Comparative study of LNG/MGO emission levels on a ROPAX ship

Abstract

Maritime transport emission reduction targets are getting stricter as solutions to reduce the environmental load are actively sought. This study compares emission levels of LNG and MGO fuels on the ROPAX ship. Emission measurements have been carried out on the ship while it was operating in real conditions at sea and include results under different load conditions. The results reveal that methane slip is noticeable under partial load. The results are generalized utilizing the sustainability index approach allowing for the separation of global warming, acidification, eutrophication, and human health particulate air potentials. Although LNG performs better in terms of many environmental effects due to the methane slip, the GWP100 does not differ much from the corresponding MGO values. The values given by the sustainability index are greatly influenced by the fuel price level, and recently the LNG market has been rather turbulent.