| Summary: | The paper presents a comparison of the fuel oil (FO) consumption and carbon dioxide (CO<sub>2</sub>) emissions of a container ship’s 8000 twenty-foot equivalent unit (TEU) during oceanographic navigation. The evaluation has two types of FOs: a 3.4% heavy fuel oil with desulfurization (HFOWD) and a 0.5% very-low-sulfur fuel oil (VLSFO), based on the sulfur cap policy of the International Maritime Organization (IMO). The results show the average FO consumption at 130 tons/day of HFOWD and 141 tons/day of VLSFO, which means shifting to VLSFO increases fuel consumption 8.4% more than the HFOWD. The average CO<sub>2</sub> emissions are 429 tons/day of the HFOWD and 471 tons/day of the VLSFO, indicating an 9.5% increase in CO<sub>2</sub> emissions when the IMO adopts the low-sulfur fuel policy. Moreover, the VLSFO blending of various chemicals further deteriorates and wears out the main engine of the ship. IMO’s low-sulfur fuel policy significantly reduced the emission of sulfur oxides (SO<sub>X</sub>) and particulate matter emissions. Still, we should not ignore the fact that adopting VLSFO may cause more CO<sub>2</sub> emissions. Therefore, while switching to low-sulfur fuels, the maritime industry should improve the related energy efficiency to reduce fuel consumption and CO<sub>2</sub> emissions.
|
|---|