By
Elly Yates-Roberts |
Marine technology manufacturer Wärtsilä is to provide an auto gasification and waste management system for Regal Princess, enabling the Princess Cruises ship to reduce her carbon emissions and waste dramatically.
By using the technology, Princess Cruises can safely dispose of waste from the ship through a self-fuelling thermal decomposition unit, which will significantly reduce greenhouse gas emissions. It will also mitigate the need to offload waste at shore facilities.
The auto gasification unit will replace one of the vessel’s onboard incinerators when it is delivered in January 2020. The emissions quality from this system exceed the standards of land-based thermal destruction and, since the system recovers energy from excess heat, Princess Cruises can make additional energy and emission savings. The auto gasification process will reduce the ship’s waste to less than 5% of the original volume and will produce Bio Char, a sterilised inert material, as well as syngas (synthesis gas), which is recycled within the unit as fuel.
“Wärtsilä and Carnival Corporation (the parent company of Princess Cruises) have cooperated closely on numerous projects over the years, and we have delivered a number of advanced waste treatment systems for their vessels,” said Jason Hardy, head of advanced waste management sales at Wärtsilä Marine. “Our experience with the auto gasification technology will help support them in their focus on efficiency and environmental sustainability.”