MDD has been tasked by the US Navy Military Sealift Command (MSC) through the Operational Logistics Integration (OPLOG) Program to conduct air pollutant emissions testing services for diesel engines on MSC vessels. Both the International Maritime Organization (IMO) and the United States Environmental Protection Agency (USEPA) regulate pollutant emissions from marine diesel engines and the US Navy has stated its intent to comply with environmental regulation. There is a broad range of environmental and business impacts associated with IMO and USEPA regulations. Among the business impacts are a reduction in fuel economy and/or the potential need to install air pollution emission control equipment. Relatively few data are available from which MSC operated vessel emissions might be determined and most estimates of current and projected pollutant emissions from marine engines are based largely on land based emission test bed calculations rather than onboard measurements. The accuracy of such estimates is unknown as it is widely acknowledged that in-service engines perform differently than the new engines tested and certified by engine manufacturers. To better understand impacts of regulatory requirements on operation of the MSC fleet – in particular the relationships between fuel economy/operational costs and pollutant emissions – MSC has determined to acquire accurate real world emissions data from the engine systems of the T-AKE ship class.
To meet this requirement, MDD has developed an emissions sampling and analysis plan and acquired air pollutant emissions data from MSC vessels to better understand the relationship of engine operations in the context of fuel economy and environmental regulatory requirements. MDD’s emissions testing program has provided: