Endegs takes degassing to ports

CLEAN AIR ACTION

DEGASSING • ENDEGS HAS RESPONDED TO THE NEEDS OF PORTS SUCH AS ROTTERDAM AND DUISBURG TO REDUCE THE EMISSIONS EXPERIENCED DURING DEGASSING OF TANK BARGES

THE PORT OF Rotterdam has successfully carried out a trial on the use of a mobile degassing unit. The unit was positioned on the public quay of the Seinehaven in early August and carried out a gasoline degassing operation on the inland tanker Visioen. The Port says the operation was carried out “without any measurable vapours being released into the atmosphere”.

The 3,235-tonne vessel had discharged its gasoline cargo and all ten cargo tanks

THE PORT OF ROTTERDAM HAS BEEN HAPPY WITH

THE TRIALS OF ENDEGS’ MOBILE DEGASSING AND had to be degassed before it could load the next cargo. The procedure took nearly seven hours.

“The aim of the trial is to determine whether the installation is suitable for degassing inland vessels without the emissions exceeding the standards,” the port says. “The installation must also be safe. The experiment was also used to test the permit conditions.”

The Port of Rotterdam prohibits the venting of a number of substances, including gasoline and benzene, to the air. Degassing while sailing is also prohibited in most provinces in the Netherlands. The port has been working towards enabling public degassing at its berths for some years now and has been collaborating with local and national authorities in order to bring it to fruition. The trial was carried out with the participation of the RotterdamRijnmond Safety Region and DSMR Milieudienst Rijmond, the regional environmental protection agency. Further trials are set to take place this year.

GERMAN TECHNOLOGY The equipment for the trial was provided by Endegs, based in Ingolstadt, Germany. Endegs has also been working with the port of Duisburg, Europe’s largest inland port, and set up a facility there in March this year to provide legally compliant degassing of gas, chemical and petroleum tankers.

“We are very happy that this service is finally offered in Germany and that in doing so we can prevent emissions into the atmosphere,” Endegs’ founder and CEO Kai Sievers said at the time. “The demand for the service has been there for years and now it’s finally reality.”

Indeed, in the past 18 months, Endegs has degassed nearly 400 seagoing and river tankers. “We are pleased that our ship degassing service is more and more appreciated by our customers, and that we can make our contribution to the safety of ships’ crews and other parties as well as to the environment, by reducing emissions of pollutants into the air,” Sievers says. The new site at Duisburg will accelerate that achievement, as it is capable of degassing some 750 tankers per year.

Endegs has also been working to further develop its mobile combustion technology, which removes virtually 100 per cent of all volatile organic compounds (VOCs) and hazardous airborne pollutants (HAPs) from vented gases. In September it began to roll out two new units, the larger of which can handle a maximum flow of 3,000 m³/hour at a maximum inlet pressure of 150 mbar (2.15 psi). www.endegs.com www.portofrotterdam.com