Environmental impact of passenger ships in port

The environmental impact of ships can be of different types. This thesis covers air pollution due to chemicals and concentrates on local effects due to compounds emitted in the exhaust gases of internal combustion engines and acoustic pollution. The attention has been focused on the consequences of the presence of many ships in ports located close to inhabited zones. For port-scale analyzes, the case study is the port of Naples for which traffics, geographic conformation, meteorological conditions, results of experimental campaigns both in the field of acoustic and environmental impact are available. In the field of polluting emissions, the case study for the simulations is a catamaran in service at the port of Naples for which experimental measurements at sea and bench tests are available. For the simulation of acoustic emissions, the case study is a passenger ship for which experimental measurements and forecast data are available. Experimental campaigns and simulations have been carried out on the port of Naples and most of the applications concern passenger ships, but methods and procedures can be applied to a general case. The thesis consists of six chapters, briefly introduced here. Each chapter contains a first subsection named "aims and scope" precisely to describe its main purposes in a more extended way than the summary presented here. The theme is first framed in the more general context of the environmental impact of anthropogenic activities and of marine transportation in particular assessment studies and documents issued by international bodies reporting targets for limiting the global environmental impact of the shipping sector are briefly summarized. Recalls on the main mechanisms of formation and reduction of pollutants are exposed. The second chapter describes the bottom-up method aimed at estimating the emissions of passenger ships in port. To obtain an estimation of all the emissions a series of very specific steps are necessary. The main information to be collected and produced concerns: traffic, routes, arrival and departure schedules, engine loads, emissions, heights, and diameters of the funnels. The technique of data collection and its use was gradually deepened (from simple cruise calendar to AIS data). The main application on the entire port sees the use of AIS data. The starting AIS data have been processed through an "ad hoc" MATLAB code capable of managing a relevant amount of data and returning a complete calendar of all the movements of every ship arriving and operating in the port. The use of AIS data has brought about improvements in the calculation methodology for emissions as well, allowing for example a more accurate analysis of average speeds in port and idle times. The port of Naples, where all the analysis were developed, is presented next. The traffics for the years and reference periods chosen in the subsequent analyzes are presented (2012, 2016, and 2018). A comprehensive study of the environmental impact of ships cannot be separated from the creation of atmospheric dispersion models. These models require the flow of pollutants emitted in the main operational phases in port (navigation, maneuvering, and mooring) as the main inputs. The results allow to estimate the weight that the passenger branch has on air quality also thanks to cross-comparisons with port measurements and ARPAC (Regional Agency for Environmental Protection in Campania) data. After the analysis of the environmen0tal impact on a port scale, the problem of emissions has been approached by applying a designated simulation, with the aim to overcome the use of emission factors. The first part of the chapter describes a state of the art of simulation model and an in-depth analysis of the main emission simulation methodologies. An engine model has been created in RICARDO WAVE environment; this engine model was validated and calibrated on an engine installed onboard a passenger ship operating in the port of Naples. Bench test results in terms of power, torque, consumption, and rpm have been used to calibrate the model while experimental measurements validated it. In the dissertation, a description of the case study (ship, engine, bench tests, and sea trials), a description of the model, and an interpretation of the results are presented. The validation on sea trials shows the effectiveness of the model both in terms of main engine parameters and emissions. At the end of the chapter, a comparison between the three emission estimation methodologies (EMEP-EEA, with AIS data, simulations, and experimental campaign) has been carried out. The next chapter of the thesis concerns the assessment of the acoustic impact of passenger ships in port. The structure of the research is typically the same: simulation and experimental results. The first part shows some experimental surveys made on a passenger ship in port that served as validation of a simulation model built in the TERRAIN OLIVE TREE LAB SUITE environment. The second and last part presents the methodology and results obtained in the context of a collaborative research project between the Universities of Naples, Genoa, and Trieste. The project aimed at characterizing the acoustic impact of a ship in light of the new additional class notation published by the Lloyds Register "Procedure for the Determination of Airborne Noise Emissions from Marine Vessels Airborne Noise Emissions from Marine Vessels". The last chapter sets out three applications in order to keep the problem set in a global scale context. The first presents an analysis of the possible countermeasures that can be applied to the cruise ship fleet aimed at environmental safeguarding (DNV Appraisal Tool), in the wake of the EEOI and EEDI. Furthermore, in the context of the environmental impact on a port scale, preliminary measurements of polluting emissions using remote measurement instruments (LIDAR) were carried out with the aim of allowing an indirect estimate of the concentrations of pollutants in the exhausts of ships, thus significantly reducing the uncertainties related to ground-level measurements with active or passive samplers. The last application, on the other hand, concerns the ports and the possible activities and initiatives to be implemented in order to host fleet of increasingly green and eco-sustainable ships (Environmental Ship Index)

Airborne Noise Prediction of a Ro/Ro Pax Ferry in the Port of Naples

Noise emissions from various transportation modes became in recent years a major concern for environmental and governmental agencies due to their impact on the community. As a result, experimental campaigns and studies have been directed towards the analysis and control of the main noise sources. Only a few analyses, however, have regarded noise exposure due to port activities. In this paper, the focus is on airborne noise emissions from a ferry ship. At first, the main onboard noise sources were identified in terms of their nature and location. Secondly, sources data on the main sources were derived, based on onboard measurements of the ferry berthed in the port of Naples. A geometrical 3D model was created, including all bodies present in the acoustic field of the surrounding area. Finally, by post processing, the consistency between actual acoustic field and numerical model results was checked

Climate Changes and Maritime Transportation: A State of the Art

In the next years, the worldwide fleet will be called to adopt drastic measures to reduce their emissions of pollutants. In order to comply with the Paris Agreement and keep the average increase in the earth's temperature below 2\ub0C, anthropogenic emissions will have to drop significantly from 2020 onwards. Maritime transportation plays an important role in these policies. At the end of 2018, the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCC) expects the IMO to communicate its intentions regarding the Paris Agreement. During the last session of MEPC71 guidelines have been set for the purpose. While waiting for regulatory updates in the maritime world, the study aims at interpreting the present position of IMO on the subject within the framework set by the IPCC's last Assessment Report, AR5. The Third IMO study on GHG (3\ub0 IMO-GHG's) is analyzed in details, covering the inventory for the period 2007 to 2012 of GHG and of non-GHG emissions in the world's fleet and the forecast scenario for years 2012 to 2050. A last part of the work will concern the effects of these pollutants, with reference to the impact on human health and on environment

Assessment of the impact of ship emissions on air quality based on a complete annual emission inventory using AIS data for the port of Naples

Air pollution due to marine traffic is strongly rising due to the rapid development of marine traffic and has brought great challenges to maritime policy and management. The purpose of this paper is to create a complete emissions inventory for the port of Naples and to assess its impact on air quality on an urban scale. The study presents a comprehensive global shipping emission inventory of NOx, SO2, and PM based on AIS data for the 2018. A bottom-up methodology was developed to assess the amounts of atmospheric pollutants emitted by all ships in port and its impact on the atmospheric pollution. A MATLAB code was developed to associate every AIS record to the most relevant phases that cover a ship in port. To estimate the emissions, a database containing the main information regarding over 900 ships was created. A Gaussian puff model (CALPUFF) was used to study the dispersion of the pollutants in the atmosphere and the impact on the urban area. The results obtained were compared with data from fixed monitoring stations in the urban area in Naples to assess the contribution of ship emissions to air quality. The methodology can be used to estimate shipping emissions in other port and/or regions and hence may serve as an input for other researchers and policy makers working in this field

Marine Dual-Fuel Engine Power Smart Management by Hybrid Turbocharging Systems

The performance of a marine dual-fuel engine, equipped with an innovative hybrid turbocharger producing electric power to satisfy part of the ship\u2019s electric load, is presented by a simulation comparison with the traditional turbocharging technology. The two distinct fuel types, combined with the hybrid turbocharger, involve a substantial change in the engine control modes, resulting in more flexible and efficient power management. Therefore, the investigation requires a numeri-cal analysis depending on the engine load variation, in both fuelling modes, to highlight different behaviours. In detail, a dual-fuel engine simulation model is validated for a particular application in order to perform a complete comparison, reported in tabular and graphical form, between the two examined turbocharging solutions. The simulation analysis is presented in terms of the engine working data and overall energy conversion efficiency

An Innovative variable layout steam plant for waste heat recovery from marine dual-fuel engines

The paper describes an original Waste Heat Recovery (WHR) variable layout plant to produce steam from the exhaustgases of marine dual-fuel engines. A large part of the steam feeds an electric turbogenerator to improve the ship's energy efficiency.The layout of the proposed steam plant is conceived in a double configuration to satisfy both the stack temperature constraints of theengine exhaust gas, due to the use of diesel oil (no less than 160°C as outlet gas temperature) or natural gas (there are no particularstack temperature limits). The comparison with a traditional WHR single pressure steam plant shows the potential benefits of thevariable configuration. Indeed, the proposed solution allows a better exploitation of the potential thermal energy of the natural gas,without precluding a proper performance even in diesel mode, with a moderate weight increase compared to a single pressure WHR system

Comparison Between High-Efficiency Propulsion Systems in Electric Ship Applications

In this paper, a fully electric marine propulsion system is compared with a hybrid (mechanical-electric) one, concerning a Ro-Ro ferry application. Both solutions employ variable speed electric generators, fueled by natural gas. In additions, waste heat recovery from the exhaust gas of the thermal engine and an innovative hybrid turbocharger are tested, individually or together, to further increase the overall efficiency of both systems. A technical, economical and eco-friendly (in terms of CO2 emitted) comparison between the two systems is reported, considering several ship speeds and routes

A Digital Twin Approach to the Diagnostoc Analisys of a Marine Diesel Engine

Marine diesel engines are systems integrated into a complex ship’s propulsion plant and comprehensive diagnostic analysis of possible degradations and failures is very challenging. Nowadays, current software and hardware allow exploring innovative ways, although each methodology cannot be considered apart from an adequate onboard monitoring system. In this work, the effects of several typical degradations of a ship’s engine, affecting some parameters that can be monitored on board, have been supposed and analyzed in order to their detection at an early stage by processing some parameters that can be monitored on board. The main aim is to provide a tool able to trace the engine performance decay. The procedure is based on the simulation of the engine model performed with input data measured on board and on a comparison of the outcomes with the real data. The case study is a 12.000 kW (750 rpm) 4-stroke marine diesel engine, simulated in a Matlab/Simulink environment and validated through the manufacturer’s datasheet. At this stage of the research, to make up for the lack of experimental data recorded onboard, a more detailed engine simulator is used to generate onboard data, with some alterations of the operating conditions as, intercooler efficiency and loss of pressure, turbocharger fouling, and many others. The numerical diagnostic tool acts on the minimization of the mean square errors (optimization problem) between the measured and the numerically simulated engine variables (such as pressures, temperatures, etc…) by properly varying the model parameters. The state of the engine is evaluated by analyzing the offset between the parameters of the degraded model and those obtained through the identification procedure for the degraded case