Mitsubishi Cement’s facility will reduce ocean vessel and truck emissions as part of its expansion plan.
The Mitsubishi Cement facility at the Port of Long Beach has customized an emission control system for bulk vessels parked at its dock to help win approval for its expansion project. The system complies with California law, but doesn’t meet the standard required for some other categories of ships.
As reported Monday, the Long Beach Harbor Commission gave the go-ahead for Mitsubishi Cement to expand its footprint at Pier F to create 40,000 metric tons of extra storage capacity. The approval was contingent on certain environmental measures and upgrades.
The facility offers electric shore power and expects about 80 percent of vessels to plug in, rather than run auxiliary engines with marine diesel oil to power onboard systems while at berth. Vessels that aren’t equipped with the proper electric components and cables can instead use the emission control system.
Mitsubishi will use a commercial, off-the-shelf catalytic converter combined with a crane arm and bonnet made by Netherlands-based Van Aalst Bulk Handling that will get draped over the vessel’s smoke stack, Long Beach port authority spokesman Lee Peterson said. The company needed a machine that could fit in a small amount of space and be rolled out of the way, said Peterson.
Mitsubishi will need to get a permit from Southern California region air quality regulators and report to them on emission levels, but will not need to get the system certified by the California Air Resources Board.
Under a California law that went into effect last year, half the container, refrigerated and passenger vessels in fleets calling state ports must shut off their diesel engines and connect to shore power, or use an alternative technology that reduces emissions by an equivalent amount.
A company called Advanced Cleanup Technologies has been pilot testing a barge-mounted capture system which can pull up alongside vessels and connect hoses from a tall tower to each exhaust pipe in the smokestack. The company last month submitted its test results to CARB and hopes to begin commercializing the system this year, pending certification.
The Advanced Maritime Emission Control System (AMECS) originally was designed as a fixed, on-dock system. Company officials dropped the bonnet system in favor of direct connection because it captures a higher percentage of emissions for treatment.
Since breakbulk vessels that deliver cement, fly ash and other related materials to Mitsubishi aren’t covered by the shore-power mandate, the company’s emission control system doesn’t need to meet the CARB standard.
Nonetheless, it was something sought by the Port of Long Beach to help meet its clean air targets and reduce the health impact on local communities. In addition to reducing nitrogen oxide emissions with a catalytic converter, the port authority required Mitsubishi to add a diesel particulate filter and test how it works in the system.
The AMECS system can remove sulfur dioxide, as well as nitrogen oxides and particulate matter. (Learn more about the AMECS system in the article “California’s shore power alternative,” pp. 56-59 in the May issue of American Shipper, as well as the September feature, “Shore power disruptor?” pp. 48-56)
Other conditions Mitsubishi agreed to include maintaining a truck fleet with at least 90 percent of vehicles having engines from 2010 or afterwards, installing solar panels and energy-efficient lighting and conducting an energy audit every five years.
The requirement for 2010 model clean-diesel engines is more stringent than Long Beach’s overall clean truck program, which requires trucks servicing container terminals to have engines built in 2007, or more recently.
Long Beach cement terminal to treat vessel emissions at berth
