Biggest polluter of our seas

On the subject of scrubbing specifically, here’s a review (in full, not paywalled) by a group of independent researchers in scientific and other organisations in Germany, Belgium, the UK and Sweden. It resulted from a workshop of the International Surface Ocean - Lower Atmosphere Study (SOLAS) project, in October 2016, but appears to have been updated with references through 2017.

‘A New Perspective at the Ship-Air-Sea-Interface: The Environmental Impacts of Exhaust Gas Scrubber Discharge’, Endres et al.; Front. Mar. Sci., 24 April 2018. https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fmars.2018.00139/full

Its conclusions included these, inter alia:

‘The use of new emission reduction technologies, such as scrubbers, in the shipping industry has benefited the environment by significantly reducing the release of pollutants to the atmosphere. However, there is incomplete understanding of the impact of scrubber wash water discharge on marine chemistry, biodiversity, and biogeochemical processes. In particular, there is limited information on the amount and composition of wash water discharge and the associated marine biological impacts. …

We conclude that despite the existing guidelines for levels of monitoring and compliance of scrubber wash water, there is still the risk for acidification, eutrophication, and accumulation of pollutants in the marine environment, especially in the coastal regions, with often already higher background concentrations of contaminants and less dilution compared to the open sea. …

Whether scrubbers are currently the most environmental-friendly technology is still unclear.’

I don’t know to what extent those conclusions might have been amended by subsequent developments, but if they have been I guess somebody may be able to explain how, and with suitable references.
 
You are now trolling.

I give up. I have other things to do with my time. Bye.

Not at all. Looking for a simple answer. You appear to be well informed. The article makes a statement. What conclusion should I draw from you getting a bit short tempered and refusing to answer?
 
Yes. I'm off to work now, so good luck.

Thanks.

But what bothers me is that they print this:

A total of 3,756 ships, both in operation and under order, have already had scrubbers installed according to DNV GL, the world’s largest ship classification company.

Only 23 of these vessels have had closed-loop scrubbers installed, a version of the device that does not discharge into the sea and stores the extracted sulphur in tanks before discharging it at a safe disposal facility in a port.


And you guys 'in the know' get a bit squirmy and wont address it on a teensy little forum like this.

You see I really want it to be wrong and the shipping industry seen to be doing some self inspection.

I would like to see local shops not selling plastic wrapped junk from China that has expended zillions of gallons of fossil fuel to get a single use hammer into a warehouse sized emporium.

Id like to see cars built in the countries where they are gonna be sold under licence so they dont have to be shipped around the world.

Ad nauseum.

But Id settle for a simple answer........
 
Not at all. Looking for a simple answer. You appear to be well informed. The article makes a statement. What conclusion should I draw from you getting a bit short tempered and refusing to answer?

You could perhaps consider that :

A. I had already shown, had you read the links I posted, that the question is very much more complicated than that

B. I have opposed open loop scrubbers for several years now; I have been cyber stalked and threatened because of my position which is now becoming more widely shared

C I had had a long day at work and was looking forward (not) to a two hour drive home in vile weather.

Oh, yes, the picture was taken in 2013:



Anything else you need to know?
 
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Read a couple of your links Minn, references to Ludwig Wittgenstein brought me back!

Top notch analysis, truly good, cleared more than a little up, tks.
 
M
Incidentally, Britain's biggest export by volume is - yes - domestic rubbish.
That would only be fair. China sends us junk, we should send our junk back, yet now they won’t take it. More unbalanced trade with China. We need to follow Trump into the trade war and sort this out.
 
M
That would only be fair. China sends us junk, we should send our junk back, yet now they won’t take it. More unbalanced trade with China. We need to follow Trump into the trade war and sort this out.

Whenever I think back to the times ive seen that pollution layer in the Straits of Gibraltar I musst find myself agreeing with that.
 
You could perhaps consider that :

A. I had already shown, had you read the links I posted, that the question is very much more complicated than that

B. I have opposed open loop scrubbers for several years now; I have been cyber stalked and threatened because of my position which is now becoming more widely shared

C I had had a long day at work and was looking forward (not) to a two hour drive home in vile weather.

Oh, yes, the picture was taken in 2013:



Anything else you need to know?

What a beautiful girl! Lucky fella.
 
I was once told by the CEO of a large multinational waste management company who I was interviewing for a large contract that the solution to pollution is dilution.

Needless to say they got the job because they offered 'value for money', shortly after I lost hope and went sailing.
 
..

Incidentally, Britain's biggest export by volume is - yes - domestic rubbish.

The predicable result of a badly thought out EU Directive.
It promoted waste separation instead of waste reduction.

The chattering classes object to every form of wsate treatment and convince themselves of their superiority by separating waste without asking how many waste re-processing plants are in the UK.
 
The predicable result of a badly thought out EU Directive.
It promoted waste separation instead of waste reduction.

The chattering classes object to every form of wsate treatment and convince themselves of their superiority by separating waste without asking how many waste re-processing plants are in the UK.

However, the same applies to the United States, which is not subject to EU Directives.

Certainly we all have a problem.
 
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