Journal of Earth Sciences and Geotechnical Engineering

Exhaust emissions from in-service inland waterways vessels

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  • Abstract

     

    Since the early 1990s, significant reductions of the NOx (Nitrogen Oxides) and PM (Particulate Matter) emissions from road transport have been observed, whereas current in-service freight vessels are still often equipped with diesel engines free of emission control. Despite the need for real-world emission data, very few measurements on board freight waterways vessels have been carried out so far, due to both test difficulties and the poor accessibility and availability of commercial vessels. Indeed, only a few hours of emission monitoring could be performed from measurements conducted on-board two freight vessels and a passenger boat, in the frame of a recent project. However, steady-state operating conditions were observed most of the time and reliable functions could be set up to simply derive pollutant emissions from engine speed, respectively for each pollutant (CO2, NOx, PM and CO) and for each boat. Results in g/kWh are analyzed and confronted with standards. Significant differences are observed between tested vessels, in terms of emissions factors rated per transport unit (g/tonne.km). These factors from current waterways freighters are set against those from heavy-duty trucks.