Monitoring of flue gas pollutants of ships by drones

Important results from the project

The aim is to minimize the negative impact of shipping on air quality and human health. A new international environmental regulation has been created to contribute to this, but it is important that rogue actors are exposed in order for this to be useful. The goal of the project is therefore to develop drone-based measurement technology that can reliably and efficiently check that passing ships use clean fuel or the required abatement technology. We have shown that this is possible for both controlling sulfur fuel content and NOx emissions, but that quality work is very important.

Expected long term effects

We have carried out monitoring of ship emissions with drones for sulfur fuel content and NOx (g / kg fuel) for 130 ships. We have also demonstrated that hydrocarbons and particles can be measured. The results show that the sensors and methodology provide good reproducibility, but that the used electrochemical sensors require extensive quality assurance. We believe that this technology can be used for control of fuel sulfur content in ships and NOx emissions, both on its own and as a complement to other measurements.

Approach and implementation

A sniffer system with sensors for SO2, O3, NO, NO2, VOC, PM2.5 and wind has been built into an ultra-light box that communicates via radio communication. The system has been calibrated against other instruments in the laboratory. The system has been tested on a 4 kg multi-rotor drone and a methodology for measuring the vessels has been developed. About 130 vessels have been measured in the main fairway in the Gothenburg archipelago during 4 measurement campaigns in June, August, September and November.