Alfa Laval PureSOx Scrubber Systems – 10 Years at Sea

The arrival of 2019 leaves just one year until the global sulphur cap becomes reality. But as the marine industry scrambles to ready itself, an important milestone has already been reached. The new year marks a decade since the first vessel set sail with an Alfa Laval PureSOx scrubber on board.

In 2009, the RoRo vessel DFDS Ficaria Seaways entered dry dock for an expansion of its cargo space. While the vessel was being rebuilt, a hybrid PureSOx system – able to perform closed-loop as well as open-loop scrubbing – was retrofitted to clean the exhaust gas from its 21 MW main engine. At the time of the pilot installation, the prospects for SOx scrubbers were anything but certain.

A decade later, the merits of both the scrubber and the centrifugal water cleaning unit are undeniable. The PureSOx system on Ficaria Seaways has spent thousands of hours in compliant operation – and is still going strong. In fact, so is every other PureSOx system ever installed. This flawless track record is unmatched by any other supplier to the industry, and it is underpinned by Alfa Laval’s 100 years of marine experience as a whole.

From theory to experience
During the course of the past ten years, PureSOx has been installed on vessels of nearly every type. This experience is valuable in the current wave of retrofits, where limited space demands practical answers. Alfa Laval has found solutions not only to vessel complexity, but also for the complex process of working with shipyards, engineering companies and the other partners involved.

Positioned today to meet the future
Alfa Laval also has a head start in production capability, even if the global sulphur cap has led to a spike in demand. Having developed a well-functioning production apparatus in the early years of the scrubber market, the company has since been focused on scaling up with retained quality. The vital processes and routines are already in place, along with the physical capacity to machine the large metal components.

Perhaps more important, however, is the head start Alfa Laval has in scrubber services and optimization. Having followed dozens of PureSOx installations, on widely differing vessels and in widely varied conditions, the company has amassed a significant body of working knowledge. That knowledge has been packaged into a well-defined PureSOx service offering and is now being applied in new ways – such as helping customers optimize their systems through scrubber connectivity.