According to the latest information, the number of ships with installed air treatment devices or on order has significantly increased over the past months. Despite the fact that this number is a tiny percentage of the world fleet, however, it is estimated that by the end of 2020 15% of the world fleet by tonnage capacity will be provided with scrubber systems.

Therefore, more and more shipowners continue to observe the value of installing wet air scrubbers. Numerous benefits lead to the installation of scrubber but it is necessary to choose the right one. It should be noted that such parameters as the vessel’s size and layout, its operating route, and its engine configuration greatly influence the best air treatment solution.

For instance, wet air scrubbers are applied more widely than dry scrubber systems, herewith, they have more focused technological development. The choice of wet scrubbers stands upon the ship’s primary operating route and the alkalinity of the water. To be more precise, open-loop scrubbers are considered to have the cheapest installation and simple operation. Nevertheless, shipowners should pay careful attention to acid neutralization because the wastewater is released back into the ocean after scrubbing.

Closed-loop scrubbers, in their turn, are regarded as more useful. The thing is that such scrubber systems “do not draw a continuous flow of water from the sea, relying instead on clean water which is recirculated with alkalizing chemicals like caustic soda.” A closed-loop wet scrubber has a higher cost in an initial outlay than an open-loop because it is more technical.

However, the energy consumption of the pumps presents one of the biggest costs of running a wet air scrubber. For example, open-loop wet scrubbers have to pump significantly more water than closed-loop scrubbers leading to higher fuel bills. Additionally, a ‘hybrid’ scrubber system may be the best solution when ships operate on routes across high alkalinity and low alkalinity water. 

Hybrid scrubbers allow switching between open-loop scrubbing and closed-loop scrubbing, depending on requirements. Herewith, hybrid wet scrubbers are highly complex, although they are the most versatile. Moreover, the configuration plays a crucial role in choosing a scrubber system. The ship’s design will identify why the shape of wet scrubbers is optimal.

Finally, it becomes obvious that there is no precise answer in choosing the right wet air scrubber, despite a hybrid solution is very attractive. Each scrubber system has its own differences and any worthwhile scrubber installation is expensive. Thus, shipowners have to find professional advice before they perform their new air treatment strategy to use the full advantages of wet scrubbers.

If you would like to make your contribution to improving air quality in order to provide air pollution control, you should choose a new type of wet scrubbers that is Multi-Vortex scrubber. Multi-Vortex wet air scrubber could apply water contaminated with dust, sand, and even small rocks to capture particulate pollutants, different types of dust, and some gases from the air. 

This type of scrubber is an ideal solution for ore and coal mining. Thus, it can be used in different mining, combustion, and chemical processes to capture gases. Also, in some cases, the unique Multi-Vortex scrubber design allows utilizing cheaper reagents to capture the pollutant gas with more efficiency than a standard wet scrubber. If you would like to buy Multi-Vortex wet air scrubber or have some questions, please contact us at info@optromix.com