Solving Pollution at Sea

Emission of volatile organic compound (VOC) occurs during transport of oil at sea. Frontline is now developing methods capable to reclaim all polluting gases produced during sea transport. "Front Granite" has successfully tested the new technology developed in co-operation with the Norwegian firm Venturie AS. This new technology eliminates the problem with pollution gases during transportation of the oil. For technical, economical and environmental reasons the technology is so favorable that Frontline intends to install it on all its oil cargo ships.

Frontline and Venturie have now results from the pilot unit and indications are that they are close to achieving the main goals of the project:

1. 100% reclaiming of the gases emitted during transport.
2. The technology must be profitable both to social and business economy.
3. The product must satisfy the requirements of the international fleet.
4. The technology must be implemented in the existing systems on the oil cargo ships.

The measurements have been made on the oil cargo ship “Front Granite” and prove a pressure reduction in the tank with the pilot system compared to tanks without the pilot system.

Since the pressure reduction in tanks equipped with the VOC unit is considerable, the emission of VOC is avoided. The technology uses the existing piping and makes use of what is already installed on the ship. This lowers the cost to a minimum.

In addition to the positive results from the testing on “Front Granite”, practical solutions have been tried out in order to plan for commercialization phase which will be finished by the end of 2001. Further testing will be required in order to resolve problems related to emissions during loading of the crude oil cargo ships. Based on some preliminary considerations and the present test results, a hybrid solution is investigated that includes this new technology combined with changes in the operational routines at the loading facilities.