The California Air Resources Board (CARB) has updated their regulation of shemissions from vessels calling at the various port facilities. The revised regulation extends emission controls to more types of vessels at more ports, and drives challenges for measuring an abatement system’s compliance with the emission limits.
Vessels often operate auxiliary Diesel engines to generate electricity and to power other onboard operations while at berth for hours or days. Emissions may be controlled using a barge-mounted system that extends a tall, articulated duct over the engine exhaust stack and draws the exhaust through an abatement system mounted on the barge.
A field demonstration (emission testing, etc.) is used to verify that a system reduces emissions below specified limits and that it meets the criteria as a CARB-Approved Emission Control Strategy (CAECS). The typical abatement system includes a continuous emission monitoring system (CEMS) to measure the emissions at the inlet and outlet of the system. Therefore, a CEMS relative accuracy test audit (RATA) is performed, as well as emission compliance tests at various engine load conditions. The international standard test methods in ISO 8178 are specified by the regulation. The issues for planning and conducting proper measurements are discussed, and solutions are described.
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