Digitaler Zwilling mit an Bord: Vorrausschauende Emissionsüberwachung auf Schiffen

Immer strengere Gesetze und Vorschriften für die Emissionsüberwachung stellen Reedereien vor große Herausforderungen. Hier helfen digitale Lösungen – wie MARpems von SICK: Das System liefert selbst dann valide Emissionsdaten, wenn Messsysteme ausfallen. Die SICK Maritime Suite, die digitale Lösung für die maritime Industrie, hat einen weiteren intelligenten Baustein bekommen: MARpems, kurz für „Maritime Predictive Emission Monitoring System“, garantiert die Verfügbarkeit der Emissionswerte auf dem Schiff – und das sogar, wenn die Messwerte der kontinuierlichen Emissionsmessung ausfallen.

SICK Maritime Suite - MARpems

MARpems liefert valide Emissionsdaten, selbst wenn Messsysteme ausfallen.

SICK Maritime Suite - MARpems

Dahinter steckt ein Algorithmus, der bei einem Ausfall bestimmter Messparameter aus den verbleibenden Werten die Abgaswerte berechnet, um eine lückenlose Compliance für Schiffsbetreiber zu gewährleisten. „MARpems geht aus einer Start-up-Initiative von SICK hervor“, erklärt Fabienne Jäckle, Produkt Manager Cleaner Industries. „Nachdem es eine solche Lösung bereits für Applikationen an Land gab, haben wir einen attraktiven Business Case in der maritimen Industrie erkannt und hierfür ein erstes Produkt entwickelt.“

Schnell lagen Ergebnisse vor, und schon in dieser relativ frühen Phase der Produktentwicklung holte SICK die Klassifizierungsgesellschaft DNV in das Boot, um sicherzugehen, dass die Lösung auch offiziell anerkannt wird. Ein kluger Schachzug: Das hinter MARpems liegende Datenmodell wurde durch den DNV-Service in Høvik bewertet und eine Leistungserklärung, ein sogenanntes „Statement of Product Capability“, für MARpems ausgestellt.Der DNV Maritime in Hamburg hat die Funktion von MARpems für Scrubber- Applikationen technisch bewertet und die technische Anwendbarkeit gegenüber dem deutschen Flaggenstaat ausgesprochen.

Gas Analyzers

MARSIC300

Insight Tools

The digital solution for the maritime industry

SICK Maritime Suite

Continuous monitoring of emissions values

In the summer of 2023, it was time for MARpems’s premiere: in Long Beach, California, the solution was first installed on a container ship from the CPO shipyards. CPO has been working with SICK to develop digital solutions for the maritime sector since 2020. Since the installlation, CPO has had access to the entire SICK Maritime Suite and its various functions, which offer comprehensive information on emissions, the performance of the exhaust gas treatment system, the status of the emissions monitoring equipment, etc.

More concretely, the new digital service MARpems works as follows: ships that run on marine fuel oil have onboard exhaust-gas treatment systems, called scrubbers, which reduce sulfur emissions. Continuous Emission Monitoring Systems (CEMSs) – like the MARSIC analyzers from SICK – check the scrubbers’ efficiency by measuring the sulfur dioxide and carbon dioxide concentration in the treated exhaust. Ship operators are required to constantly monitor these emissions values, record them, and report them to the authorities as needed. When a CEMS breaks down, certain exhaust gas values become unavailable, and the ship operator can no longer prove their ship’s compliance with the maximum values. Normally, faulty sensors can only be replaced by trained technicians. This poses unforeseekable risks for ship operators, such as additional manual labor, higher costs due to more expensive fuel, or even financial penalties for failure to comply.

Digital Service MARpems (on-premise): Technical overview

Digital twin on board

But MARpems offers out a way: “Essentially, we’re talking about using a digital twin of the faulty CEMS,” says Jäckle. “If a CEMS malfunctions or breaks down, the software automatically kicks in: machine learning models use the available operating data from the ship and scrubbers to calculate the electrical current emissions. In this way, MARpems ensures temporary emissions conformity and therefore compliance with IMO regulations. Although generally the same machine learning models are used, they are individually trained for the respective ship using its specific data from the past several months.

Authorization by flag states

In addition to ensuring compliance while also reducing the time and effort when a CEMS breaks down, MARpems has another positive effect: the solution increases transparency on the status of the emissions monitoring equipment and scrubbers, which can help to avoid or plan short-term repairs and maintenance. Accordingly, the system boosts process reliability and reduces service calls to a minimum. All in all, MARpems increases operating efficiency and competitiveness. Today, MARpems is officially recognized by the flag states Germany, Malta, and Liberia. Flag states define supervisory regulations concerning technical and administrative matters on board the ships flying their flag. The approval of further flag states is expected in the near future: “We’re already in talks with the maritime organizations of further countries,” says Fabienne Jäckle. “In this way, we’re actively expanding the acceptance of our solution, step by step.”