NYK and Nippon Yuka Kogyo Co. Ltd., an NYK Group company, have teamed with Horiba Ltd. to develop a sulfur-in-oil analyzer for ships.
With the analyzer, based on an existing device used at onshore analysis centers, NYK will be able to comply with regulations limiting sulfur oxides (SOx) from vessels as well as optimize the company’s use of low-sulfur fuel oil, NYK Group said in an announcement.
NYK Group explained in the announcement that certain areas around Europe and North America have been designated as emission control areas (ECAs) to prevent air pollution, and ships sailing though those areas are required to use onboard fuel oil having a sulfur content of no more than 0.1 percent.
Onboard engineers must change to low-sulfur fuel before entering ECAs by calculating the time that the sulfur concentration in tanks and pipes will fall to 0.1 percent or less. The sulfur-in-oil analyzer will enable engineers to perform onboard analyses to determine the actual sulfur percent rather than estimate as done previously.