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Shipping project publishes protocol to measure methane emissions from marine diesel engines
2/10/2024
News
A shipping industry project has launched a consultation about a methane measurement protocol (MMP) to encourage methane reduction in conventional diesel-powered shipping. The group calls it the first industry-wide effort to establish a universal method for measuring methane.
‘Assessing and crediting performance in a consistent manner is essential to actively reducing methane emissions,’ says Panos Mitrou, Global Gas Director at Lloyd’s Register, and Chair of the Methane Abatement in Maritime Innovation Initiative (MAMII).
He continues: ‘We believe that the effort to regulate and establish a certification process to credit methane emissions performance will substantially encourage the development and adoption of technology and cleaner practices by rewarding those who take meaningful steps towards sustainability. Methane abatement is critical for the shipping industry’s transition to greener operations.’
According to the MAMII, the MMP features five testing scenarios that could lead to methane certification, from testing in controlled environments (two are test-bed based) to continuous emissions monitoring onboard ships.
It says that the Protocol is based on the International Maritime Organization’s (IMO) NOx Technical Code 2008, but adds that it was ‘developed in the absence of specific IMO direction as to CH4 measurement from marine diesel engines’. MAMII notes that the protocol does not currently measure nitrous oxide (N2O) emissions, but that could be added ‘soon’.
The Protocol also states that, although its guidelines were written for maritime diesel engines, ‘they could in principle be also applied to the testing of continuously fired devices such as boilers and gas turbines or intermittently fired devices, such as gas consumer units/oxiders’.
In September, energy major BP’s shipping arm BP Shipping, French shipping company CMA CGM and LNG containment technology company GTT joined MAMII, whose membership now numbers 23.
MAMII is led by Safetytech Accelerator, which was established by Lloyds Register in 2018 and incorporated as an autonomous business in 2021. Its other programmes include the Cargo Fire and Loss Innovation Initiative, the Industrial Safetytech Regulatory Sandbox for the construction sector, and the maritime acceleration programme Waypoint.
Last month, the organisation also published a report about its recent work.
The MMP protocol is available upon request.
