Oslo/Lysaker-Yara International ASA and Wilhelmsen Maritime Services (WMS), a unit of Wilh. Wilhelmsen ASA, are creating the Yarwil joint venture, to launch environmental solutions for the maritime market. This commitment will help to reduce emissions in the shipping sector. Yarwil will be owned 50-50 by Yara and WMS. “We are Europe’s leading producer of environmental products for NOx treatment, and already remove more NOx than Norway’s total emissions of these substances,” says President and CEO of Yara International ASA Thorleif Enger. The two say Yara’s product solution could cut such emissions from ships by 95 percent. This concept is based on adding a special quality of urea solution to the hot exhaust fumes from the ship’s engines. The mix then passes through a catalytic converter, where NOx from the exhausts reacts with the urea solution and is turned into harmless water vapor and nitrogen. Yarwil’s technology will initially cover that part of the maritime market in which NOx emissions are governed by official regulations. In the short term, this means vessels engaged in trades typically conducted close to land, such as ferries, fishing vessels, and supply ships. Cruise liners will also employ the technology. It is currently possible to remove NOx emissions from diesel generators on large ocean-going vessels, but technology tailored to their propulsion machinery remains under development and will not be available until some time in the future. Norway, for instance, is committed under the Gothenburg protocol to reduce its annual NOx emissions to a maximum of 156,000 mt by 2010. That calls for a cut of 45,000 mt per year, and Yarwil’s deNOx technology will make it possible to reach this goal. To meet the environmental challenges faced by the maritime sector, Yarwil intends to expand its product range to embrace other solutions for reducing emissions from ships, such as sulfur oxides.
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