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Evaluation of constraints for investment in NOx emission technologies: case study on Greek bulk carrier owners
Abstract
Purpose
The maritime industry is the transport mode that contributes most to air pollution. The International Maritime Organization (IMO) identified the reduction of air pollution by ships as a crucial issue. Since 1 January 2020, ships have had to adopt strategies and new technologies to eliminate air pollution. However, ship compliance with nitrate oxide (NOx) emission restrictions is more challenging. This paper aims to identify ship owners' challenges in investing in new technologies.
Design/methodology/approach
This paper applied a hybrid methodology combining a survey, a balanced scorecard and fuzzy analytic hierarchy process (F-AHP) to identify and evaluate constraints and weights in investment decision-making for NOx technologies. A survey was carried out to validate constraints.
Findings
A survey was carried out, representing 5.1% of Greek-owned ships by deadweight capacity. The findings provide a weighted list of seven crucial technical and economic constraints faced by ship operators. The constraints vary from ship retrofit expenditure to crew training and waste management. Additionally, NOx emission technologies were compared. It was found that liquefied natural gas is the preferred investment option for the survey participants compared with selective catalytic reduction, exhaust gas recirculation and batteries.
Originality/value
Several studies have dealt with the individual technical feasibility of NOx reduction technologies. However, apart from technical feasibility for a shipowner, the selection of a NOx technology has several managerial and safety risks. Therefore, the originality of this paper is to reveal those constraints that have a higher weight on ship owners. With this cost-benefit approach, investment challenges for ship operators are revealed. Policymakers can benefit from the results of the employed methodology.
The main purpose of the article is to present a comprehensive and critical review of the challenges and risks associated with the use of green ammonia as an alternative fuel in land transport. The review is motivated by the clear trend toward phasing out fossil fuel vehicles and replacing them with emission-free alternatives. Topics covered include safety aspects such as safety of powering of vehicles, the production of green ammonia, the use of ammonia in the context of various fuel solutions (combustion engines and fuel cell engines), and the discussion of ammonia-powered vehicles in the context of air pollution. The paper offers new insights into identifying the challenges and obstacles that may arise in the case of the massive use of green ammonia as a fuel for land transport. In addition, the review presents the latest information on the technological readiness of the necessary infrastructure for the production, transport, storage, and utilization of green ammonia in internal combustion or electric engines.
This article presents the official results of the inventory of pollutants in Poland from road transport, developed in the National Centre for Emissions Management of the Institute of Environmental Protection–National Research Institute in Warsaw as part of the reporting of national pollutant emissions. Considerations concern pollutants harmful to the health of living organisms. Source information is available in official reports. The national emission of pollutants covers the years of balancing 1990–2020. The aim of the work is to assess the dynamic properties of the processes of national emission of pollutants. The list of substances whose emission is examined in the article is consistent with the list of substances in accordance with the European Monitoring and Evaluation Programme/European Environment Agency (EMEP/EEA) procedure. These are pollutants harmful to the health of living organisms. The inventory of pollutants contributing to the intensification of the greenhouse effect in the atmosphere is carried out as part of separate reports. The energy consumption of road vehicles was presented. The ratio of national annual emissions of pollutants in 2020 and in 1990 is the lowest for sulfur oxides and lead, followed by non-methane volatile organic compounds and carbon monoxide. The analysis of the national pollutant emission concerned the energy emission factor, which characterizes the ecological level of the accumulated category of road vehicles. This is an original element, not seen before in world literature and official reports of research institutes. An unambiguous trend of decreasing the energy emission factor of pollutants, apart from ammonia, was found, which is related to the use of catalytic flue gas purification systems. This is confirmed by the analysis of the ratio of the energy emission factor in 2020 and 1990, as well as the relative derivative of the energy emission factor in relation to the national annual emission of pollutants.
In a novel approach, emission and air pollution aspects are combined to determine vehicles that “do not affect” air quality. First, the term “Zero-Impact Emissions” is defined. A compliance test matrix is developed consisting of seven different scenarios, with individual boundary conditions such as dilution, ambient conditions, traffic volume, and cold start share. The average fleet emissions required to achieve Zero-Impact Emissions range from 33 mg/km NOx for an uphill Brenner drive down to 6 mg/km for a high-traffic highway. Finally, simulation models with state-of-the-art exhaust aftertreatment are used to test the scenarios for a gasoline passenger car and a light-duty diesel vehicle. The results demonstrate that Zero-Impact Emissions compliance depends strongly on the boundary conditions. In the High Alpine Uphill and High Traffic Brenner scenarios (typical emission worst-cases), this can already be achieved, while scenarios with high traffic volume or high cold start share require additional measures.
The worldwide shipping provides 90 percent of the goods carriage and in the last 20 years their absolute volume is constantly increasing. However, carriers need to maintain service levels and reduce exploitation costs, and at the same time must ensure higher sustainability in all operations. The growth in number of ships in service inevitably leads to much more harmful emissions released by vessels in to the atmosphere. In the same time, more stringent environmental requirements and laws continue to regulate the maritime transport sector. Progress was made by International Maritime Organization (IMO) towards the ambition on reduction of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions from ships. That is why IMO based International Convention for the Prevention of Pollution from Ships (MARPOL Convention) and its regulations continuously sets higher thresholds for environment protection expressed by Nitrous Oxides (NO x ), Sulphur Oxides (SO x ) and Carbone Dioxides (CO 2 ) limitations. The new higher ecological requirements put on the table new technical and economic challenges for the shipowners and ship designers.
In the current paper Selective Catalytic Reduction (SCR) and Exhaust Gas Bypass (EGR) NO x emissions reduction systems and their affect on the fuel consumption are under consideration. The application of each system depends on the ship’s type, installed propulsion system and its main engines and operational modes.
The numerical study is carried based on 31800 DWT vessel for bulk loads, operating in restricted areas of the Great Lakes of North America. In the course of the research the fulfilment of the following objectives are being leaned: the ship must be capable for operation in Nitrogen Emission Control Areas (NECA’s), as well as its Energy Efficiency Design Index (EEDI) must be in compliance with Required Energy Efficiency Design Index (REEDI) Phase 3 coming in force in 2025.
The high-pressure selective catalytic reduction (HP-SCR) system arranged before the turbine is more suitable for high-power marine low-speed engines to reduce NOx emission. However, the HP-SCR reactor will cause an increase in engine exhaust back pressure, affecting its performance and brake-specific fuel consumption (BSFC). The 10WM marine low-speed two-stroke diesel engine and its HP-SCR system are taken as the research object in this paper. The engine performance and emissions in International Maritime Organization (IMO) Tier II and Tier III modes are tested by bench experiments. The effects of the HP-SCR reactor on engine performance parameters, emission characteristics, and pulse effect in exhaust pipe are obtained. The research showed that when the HP-SCR reactor is used, the BSFC of the engine will slightly increase, but the maximum will not exceed 1 g/kWh. The weighted specific emission of NOx is 2.09 g/kWh, which can meet Tier III emission regulations. In addition, under the Tier II mode, the engine exhaust pipe has a noticeable pulse effect. The exhaust gas temperature before the turbine is about 30 • C higher than that after the cylinder. However, under Tier III mode, the pulse effect in the exhaust pipe disappears completely. In addition to the fact that the HP-SCR reactor weakens the linear velocity of exhaust gas, the main reason is that the urea injection unit reduces exhaust gas temperature by 36 ~ 47 • C.
The Paris Agreement has exerted tremendous pressure on the maritime industry to reduce carbon emissions. Since then, the industry has experimented with numerous technological, operational and incentive methods. Even though todate no concrete method or technology has proven to be a potent decarbonisation candidate, using LNG as a bunker fuel has shown some positive prospects in the reduction of atmospheric pollution. While the induction of LNG has been driven by a combination of environmental benefits and attractive fuel prices, especially for new construction, its actual use has received mixed acceptance. These mixed reactions have created a general sense of uncertainty about the benefits LNG can provide towards decarbonisation that has resulted in unease within the maritime shipping industry.
Using desk-based qualitative research, the author analyses LNG as a possible fuel to achieve decarbonisation by the maritime shipping industry. In doing so, the evolving controversies associated with acceptance of LNG as a decarbonising fuel to meet the targets of the Paris Agreement have been analysed. Eventually, the future of LNG as an alternate fuel for the maritime shipping industry is evaluated and the role LNG can play as a future bunker fuel for decarbonisation of the maritime shipping industry is discussed.
Along the worldwide tightening of standards for sulphur emission from ocean going vessels (OGVs) come actions that are also being taken to reduce nitrogen emission. Particularly, as a milestone in this regard, on January 1st, 2021 the NOx Emission Control Area (NECA) for the North Sea and Baltic Sea came into effect. In response to the newly established NECA, the sniffer sensor system on the Belgian coastguard aircraft was modified and extended with a NOx sensor. Moreover, a methodology was developed to evaluate OGV compliance to the NOx emission limits through in situ measurements of the plume exhaust. The quality and uncertainty of the measurements demonstrate that it is likely to achieve an effective compliance monitoring of the NOx emission standards on the sea. Those emission standards are further divided into four tiers depending on the keel laying date. As has been proved by the results, NOx emissions for Tier II OGVs, contrary to what might be expected, are on average higher than those for Tier I OGVs. What is even more problematic, Tier II OGVs have also more often been found to be non-compliant than Tier I OGVs.
Many shipping companies have started using scrubbers in their fleet to eliminate sulfur emissions from ships, per IMO (International Maritime Organization) rules. Before and during the scrubbers’ selection, the scrubbers’ operational failures have also started to appear and cause serious concerns. In this study, classified scrubber types are explained and open type, closed type, and hybrid scrubber systems are evaluated. To contribute to this gap in the literature, scrubber failures were identified, five experts with different perspectives were consulted, and the most common and critical malfunctions were evaluated with the fuzzy best–worst method (F-BWM) and fuzzy technique for order preference by similarity to an ideal solution (F-TOPSIS). F-BWM was used to determine the importance weights of the risk parameters used in evaluating failures since it provides fewer comparisons among pairwise comparison–based decision-making methods and a more consistent judgment in the evaluation. F-TOPSIS, on the other hand, was used to determine the final priority scores of the scrubber failures, taking into account the risk parameter weights obtained in the first stage. It has been preferred due to its easy to useness and based on its closeness to the ideal solution and applicability to risk and failure analysis problems. Considering all different systems in general, important issues such as collection efficiency, sulfur emission problem, abrasion, leakages, pump failures, heat exchanger failures, air fan sealing failures, sensors and failures in monitoring the whole system have been investigated. Results show that too high axial velocity for separator and flooded separator, too high solids concentration in recirculation liquid (SF2), piping leakages (SF5), poor quality or inappropriate consumables and chemicals (SF11), and feed circulation pump problems (SF6) are found to be the most important problems among thirteen failures.
The problem of environmental pollution by the combustion of fossil fuels in diesel engines, to which NOx emission is a dominant culprit, has accelerated global environmental pollution and global and local health problems such as lung disease, cancer, and acid rain. Among various De-NOx technologies, SCR (Selective Catalytic Reduction) systems are known to be the most effective technology for actively responding to environmental regulations set by the IMO (International Maritime Organization) in marine diesel applications. The ammonia mixes with the exhaust gas and reacts with the NOx molecules on the catalyst surface to form harmless N2 and H2O. However, since the denitrification efficiency of NOx can be rapidly changed depending on the operating temperature from 250 °C to 350 °C at 0.1% sur contents of the catalyst used in the SCR, a device capable of controlling the exhaust gas temperature is essential for the normal operation of the catalyst. In addition, when the catalyst is exposed to SOx in a low exhaust gas temperature environment, the catalyst is unable to reduce the oxidation reaction of the catalyst, thereby remarkably lowering the De-NOx efficiency. However, if the exhaust gas temperature is set to a high temperature of 360–410 °C, the poisoned catalyst can be regenerated through a reduction process, so that a burner capable of producing a high temperature condition is essential. In this study, a plasma burner system was applied to control the exhaust gas temperature, improving the De-NOx efficiency from the engine and regenerating catalysts from PM (Particulate Matter), SOOT and ABS (ammonia bisulfate), i.e., catalyst poisoning. Through the burner system, the optimum De-NOx performance was experimentally investigated by controlling the temperature to the operating region of the catalyst, and it was shown that the regeneration efficiency in each high temperature (360/410 °C) environment was about 95% or more as compared with the initial performance. From the results of this study, it can be concluded that this technology can positively contribute to the enhancement of catalyst durability and De-NOx performance.
In the present work, the contemporary exhaust gas treatment systems (EGTS) used for SOx, PM, and NOx emission mitigation from shipping are reviewed. Specifically, after-treatment technologies such as wet scrubbers with seawater and freshwater solution with NaOH, hybrid wet scrubbers, wet scrubbers integrated in exhaust gas recirculation (EGR) installations, dry scrubbers, inert gas wet scrubbers and selective catalytic reduction (SCR) systems are analyzed. The operational principles and the construction specifications, the performance characteristics and the investment and operation of the reviewed shipping EGTS are thoroughly elaborated. The SCR technology is comparatively evaluated with alternative techniques such as LNG, internal engine modifications (IEM), direct water injection (DWI) and humid air motor (HAM) to assess the individual NOx emission reduction potential of each technology. Detailed real data for the time several cargo vessels spent in shipyards for seawater scrubber installation, and actual data for the purchase cost and the installation cost of seawater scrubbers in shipyards are demonstrated. From the examination of the constructional, operational, environmental and economic parameters of the examined EGTS, it can be concluded that the most effective SOx emission abatement system is the closed-loop wet scrubbers with NaOH solution which can practically eliminate ship SOx emissions, whereas the most effective NOx emission mitigation system is the SCR which cannot only offer compliance of a vessel with the IMO Tier III limits but can also practically eliminate ship NOx emissions.
The continuous increase in global maritime freight transport has led to an increase in emissions. The port of Heraklion was selected as a case study to investigate the environmental impact of shipping in wider areas. Two different maritime fuels were examined: the conventional maritime fuel, marine diesel oil (MDO), and an alternative maritime fuel, liquified natural gas (LNG). To carry out this study, real data from the port of Heraklion, the Lloyd’s Register Fairplay (LRF) Sea-Web database, and literature reviews were used. The bottom-up method was adopted for data processing. The results of this study demonstrate that alternative maritime fuels, such as LNG, could drastically reduce SO2, NOx, PM, and CO2 emissions.
Purpose
The article investigates factors associated with the relative success in adopting two specific alternative marine energies (liquefied natural gas, LNG and electric batteries) in the Norwegian ferry market. This specific market segment is an interesting case study as its national-flagged fleet boasting the largest number of ships using alternative marine energies in comparison with the other countries of the region and the world.
Design/methodology/approach
A database tracking the yearly deployment of ships using a different combination of LNG and electric batteries was built from shipping lines’ online information and grey literature. The technological adoption approach was used to categorize different groups of users at each step of the adoption process and identify which factors separate the early adopters from the other groups of end-users. The compiled data allow tracing the changing distribution of Norwegian ferry operators along the conceptualized technology adoption curve.
Findings
Results indicated that the Norwegian ferry market matches required conditions to pass the “chasm” of uncertainties associated with transitioning to new technology. Some disparities between the adoption of LNG and the electric batteries in the Norwegian ferry markets are observed.
Originality/value
To the authors’ knowledge, no study has explored the adoption of new energies in the maritime industry based on the technology adoption process through a similar perspective. The analysis is helpful to shed light on the barriers associated with a high level of uncertainties when it comes to adopting new marine energies.
Previous studies have found that the occurrence of maritime accidents often lacks a sound environment management mechanism. The reason is that maritime safety needs management functions to promote each other. This study aims to assess the risk analysis of maritime accidents, applying balanced scorecard (BSC) concepts integrating decision-making trial and evaluation laboratory (DEMATEL) with analytic network process (ANP). The empirical results are that the balanced scorecard could be applied as a maritime procedure management method in maritime risk analysis. A total of 30 questionnaires were collected via scholar questionnaire, and five criteria or key factors for strengthening risk assessment of marine accidents were determined. According to the application of BSC, the risk analysis criteria constructed can assist maritime authorities to reduce the maritime accidents.
Key analysts are emphasizing the importance of the digitalization especially of the supply chain. This work aims to improve maritime shipping companies by introducing digitalization in their operations. This objective is achieved analyzing the impact of maritime container shipping companies’ digitalization. This analysis requires as input the Business Process Model (BPMo) and an inventory of digital applications to verify how the BPMo changes when deploying the applications, define the prerequisites necessary for this deployment, and identify the key performance indicators (KPIs) to track it. The impact of the deployment of the applications has been quantified by using four performance dimensions: Costs, Time, Quality, and Flexibility. The results show that the impacts are different per application, with changes in the processes, the addition of new ones, and the decommissioning of others. The impact of digitalization is high when trying to deploy all the applications at the same time. Companies can leverage this work, which requires reviewing the documented impacts in their processes and the applications’ prerequisites as well as updating their existing balanced scorecard, incorporating the application’s KPIs. A list of 10 applications has been identified as “quick wins”; then, applications can be the starting point for digitalizing a company.
On board emission measurements from a dry bulk vessel operating on an advanced biofuel, produced from used cooking oil (UCO), are reported for the first time, in an effort to assess potential benefits and impacts compared to conventional fossil fuels. Carbon dioxide (CO2) and nitrogen oxide (NOx) emission measurements were performed on a slow-speed, two-stroke marine diesel engine of a Kamsarmax vessel, while burning a 50 : 50 biofuel blend of UCO biodiesel and marine gas oil (MGO). The same gases were monitored, under similar conditions, while the vessel was burning solely low-sulfur MGO (LSMGO) allowing for relevant comparisons. Sulfur dioxide (SO2) emissions were also calculated for the tested fuels. Apart from comparing the biofuel blend with LSMGO in terms of direct emissions from combustion, indirect emissions associated with the extraction, production and transportation of both fuels were estimated based on recent literature. Life cycle emissions were also estimated for different scenarios involving conventional marine fuels for performing the same voyage. Marginal differences were observed regarding CO2 and NOx emissions of the tested fuels, while the SO2 emissions of the biofuel blend were about 50% lower compared to LSMGO. Although the biofuel blend generates combustion CO2 emissions very similar to those of conventional marine fuels, it can achieve up to 40% emissions reduction from a life cycle analysis (LCA) perspective. These results, combined with the fact that no operational issues occurred during the biofuel trial, show that such fuels have significant potential towards the decarbonization of dry bulk shipping.
From January 2020, the International Maritime Organization has regulated ship emissions to reduce sulfur content. As an alternative to this, LNG bunkering was proposed, and infrastructure and ships were deployed. Therefore, we used analytic hierarchy process AHP techniques to determine optimal methods of LNG bunkering for shipyard safety. First, we conducted a literature survey on the concept and type of LNG bunkering, global LNG bunkering trends, and features of Japan and South Korea cases and compared them. Thereafter, an expert survey was conducted, and survey data was analyzed using AHP techniques. Finally, we derived optimal methods applicable to shipyard industry. The analytical results revealed that the derived priority of the optimal LNG bunkering method of shipyard was in the order of the STS method, TTS method, and the PTS method. The result of this study can serve as a theoretical basis to make LNG bunkering safer and more economical in shipyards to prepare for the expansion of demand of LNG-fueled ships and LNG. However, this study inevitably has limitations of ranking reversals paradox as it was conducted by experts, assuming no weights to STS, TTS, or PTS.
Degradation of the environment is nowadays believed to be the most alarming problem that needs to be solved. Global warming and environmental pollution are predicted to cause a catastrophic chain reaction leading to species extinction, mass emigration due to rising sea levels and global crisis. The only solution suggested by international organizations is the immediate reduction of greenhouse gases and other harmful substances. Marine transportation harmful substances into the atmosphere are recognized to be a significant source of global atmospheric pollution. Despite the high efficiency of marine diesel engines, their impact on the environment is considerable. Due to environmentally friendly policies, modern engines concerns about not only efficiency but also mainly about s aspects. This article analyses and compares marine s exhaust gases reduction methods. Especially the most harmful substances emitted by ships were taken into consideration. The article presents the most crucial law regulations of harmful substances to the atmosphere, pointing at actual and possible future implementations. The most complex methods allowing meeting the latest limits were presented. Pros and cons of available control methods were thoroughly described and methods were compared. The most adequate methods form the effectiveness and economical point of view was pointed out.
The purpose of this study is to know the implementation of performance audit and whether the perspective of balance scorecard implemented in Local Government in North Sumatra, Indonesia and know the performance of government in this case APIP related to performance performance audit in local government implement Balance Score Card. The type of research used is the type of qualitative research. This research was conducted in North Sumatera Province, Indonesia with sample of Regency/City Government of Medan, Dairi, Serdang Bedagai and Tebing Tinggi, with focus of study on High Town Tebing Government. Population in this research is Functional Official of Auditor (PFA) as APIP officer at Tebing Tinggi, North Sumatera, Indonesia. The respondents of this research are Functional Auditor Officials (PFA). This is in accordance with the PFA Rule selected based on Government No. 16 of 1994 on Civil Servant Functional Position. The results show that the performance of district/city performance audit in North Sumatera has not been implemented as mandated by the stipulated provisions. The implementation of the regency / municipality is still limited, many educational backgrounds are not derived from economic or audit-related areas, lack of guidance on APIP's human resources and non-determination of inspection object local government.
This investigation proposes the use of the analytic hierarchy process (AHP) to evaluate potential sites for stream monitoring and broadcast of flood warnings. The methodology adopts variables established by the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) for the selection of stream-monitoring sites and incorporates new variables associated with the stream morphometry and hydraulics. The proposed approach quantifies subjective valuations through pairwise comparisons of judgements within the selection criteria. The uncertainty of expert judgement was assessed via Monte Carlo simulations and its effects on the resulting priority vector were analysed. This approach was applied on three main mountain watershed streams at which 11 alternative stream-gauging sites were evaluated and scored. According to our findings, six variables explain 0.711 of the total weight in the priority vector for the evaluation of a candidate site. Our approach is suitable for selecting the most stable alternative location based on a multi-criteria analysis in an inter-comparison arrangement.
50 free online copies of the full text
https://www.tandfonline.com/eprint/8ZV4D65AEDGRFUZRKHAY/full?target=10.1080/03088839.2019.1628318
Big data analytics has prospered in recent years and has triggered revolutionary changes in various industries. However, its adoption in maritime organizations is relatively lagged and there is no study addressing this phenomenon so far. This paper develops a fuzzy Delphi-AHP-TOPSIS framework to identify barriers in emerging technology adoption. A case study employs this framework to investigate the hurdles for big data analytics to be adopted in the maritime industry. The case study shows that the framework is useful in identifying and ranking barriers. The results unveil the most serious managerial, cultural, and technical barriers that impede the adoption of big data analytics in maritime organizations.
The maritime industry is currently facing the challenges of adopting new technologies and operational practices with stricter international, national and local rules in order to reduce exhaust gas emissions from ships. The most objective of regulations introduced and presented by the Worldwide Sea organization such as International Maritime Organization (IMO) and the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is to lessen the commitment shipping makes to Worldwide and local discharges. This paper analyses emissions from marine engines and the process of waste exhaust gas formation and provides a summary of the emission reduction technologies to satisfy MARPOL NOx tier III and EPA tier IV rules. The results showed the possibility of achieving a valuable emission reduction percentage if future diesel engines are equipped with pre-treatment, internal-treatment and/or post-treatment techniques. Economics impact for medium and low speed for category 3 marine diesel engines are also presented.
Critical aspects of the environment can reduce the efficiency of Environmental Management Systems (EMS) when applied to Marine Transport. Accordingly, this paper focuses on the improvement of the traditional EMS approach through the usage of Balanced Scorecard (BSC). The BSC represents a managing tool able to measure and increase organizational performance, taking into consideration environmental aspects. The proposed method, based on the ISO 14001 standard, allows management of environmental metrics through conventional BSC systems and it is applied to the biggest organization for marine transport in Montenegro as a case study methodology. In this qualitative investigation, particular attention was paid to creating EMS criteria able to orient the complete business operation of the organization but also to test their potential linkage to the conventional BSC approach. Four models of the BSC were created, each one including to a different extent the issue of environmental protection. Finally, an expert’s evaluation of model efficiency, based on the ISO 9126, was carried out. As a result, the best ranked model is recommended for the selection of an approach toward environmental protection based on the use of the EMS metric in a conventional BSC system. This method—in short ECO-BSC—was developed for the specific benefit of those organizations operating on the marine transport market.
Risk analysis (RA) contains several methodologies that object to ensure the protection and safety of occupational stakeholders. Multi attribute decision-making (MADM) is one of the most important RA methodologies that is applied to several areas from manufacturing to information technology. With the widespread use of computer networks and the Internet, information security has become very important. Information security is vital as institutions are mostly dependent on information, technology, and systems. This requires a comprehensive and effective implementation of information security RA. Analytic hierarchy process (AHP) and technique for order preference by similarity to ideal solution (TOPSIS) are commonly used MADM methods and recently used for RA. In this study, a new RA methodology is proposed based on AHP–TOPSIS integration extended with Pythagorean fuzzy sets. AHP strengthened by interval-valued Pythagorean fuzzy numbers is used to weigh risk parameters with expert judgment. Then, TOPSIS with Pythagorean fuzzy numbers is used to prioritize previously identified risks. A comparison of the proposed approach with three approaches (classical RA method, Pythagorean fuzzy VIKOR and Pythagorean fuzzy MOORA) is also provided. To illustrate the feasibility and practicality of the proposed approach, a case study for information security RA in corrugated cardboard sector is executed.
The Aceh government through a social housing refurbishment program has periodically provided decent homes for impoverished families in the last three years. However, the selection process of decent homes' recipient is currently still using assessments based on the personal judgment of a decision maker so the process becomes subjectivity and fuzziness. In order to overcome this problem, a fuzzy Multi-Attribute Decision Making (FMADM) technique can offer a solution. In this research, we apply an FMADM model based on Simple Additive Weighting (SAW) with triangular fuzzy numbers to express the fuzziness of decision making information and criteria weight. After normalizing the fuzzy decision making and criteria weight matrices, the alternative ranking process uses SAW to evaluate those two matrices where all criteria weight elements are crisp values converted from the triangular fuzzy numbers using Defuzzification of Minkowski. Furthermore, we demonstrated this model by showing a numerical example to a case study of the decent homes distribution of impoverished families in Aceh. The result shows that the model can be applied to this case study.
In the process of creating eco-friendly environment and conserving fossil fuels for the future generations, biodiesel has been chosen as a good substitute for diesel. It is a proven fact that biodiesel operated diesel engine can deliver comparable results with diesel. The present work focuses on TSME20 (tamarind seed methyl ester 20% + diesel 80%) as a renewable fuel, and its performance and emission results are analyzed at different exhaust gas recirculation rates and various injection pressures. The process is done in two stages. Firstly, experiments are conducted on TSME20 operated diesel engine at three injection pressures (180, 200, and 220 bar), and the results are analyzed. From the experimental results, improved efficiency by 2.29% and reduced emissions, such as hydrocarbon, smoke, and carbon monoxide, by 53.84, 56.25, and 75.15% are observed at the peak load for the increased injection pressure (220 bar) over 200 bar except NOx levels, which are found high by 11% compared to 200-bar injection pressure. Secondly, tests are again performed at the optimal condition of 220-bar injection pressure with the exhaust gas re-circulation (EGR) rates at different levels, i.e., 10 and 20%. The test results reveal that the addition of 10% EGR to the engine operating at 220 bar counteracts the release of NOx levels, which are found reduced by 80.5% over standard conditions without much compromise in engine performance. Also, the combustion characteristics of diesel engine at 220-bar fuel injection pressure of tamarind biodiesel blend showed enhancement when compared to other fuel injection pressures.
One of the most serious problems the world currently faces is global warming caused by greenhouse gases and pollution emissions. Despite the effectiveness of onshore power supply (OPS) in seaports for reducing environmental pollution, its use rate in ports in South Korea is low. Nevertheless, no study has analyzed the barriers to using OPS or explored ways to reduce air pollution from vessels. To fill this gap, this study explores why Korean liner shipping companies avoid using OPS. After a comprehensive literature review and expert interviews to identify key barriers, fuzzy AHP is employed to rank 16 barriers under four key factors. The research shows that the technical standards (BF22) of technical factors are the most significant barriers to the use of OPS. In addition, there is a differentiation in the awareness and views of using OPS among Korean liner shipping companies. This study offers insightful recommendations for developing government OPS policies.
This letter is one of the latest research reports from IEEE TIV's Decentralized and Hybrid Workshops (DHW) on Ethics, Responsibility, and Sustainability (ERS). In the last year, we organized 1 distributed/decentralized and hybrid symposia (DHS), 2 DHWs, and 7 seminars. The following is a brief review of the findings from our DHS, DHWs, and Seminars, in particularly about a novel emission regulatory framework for intelligent transportation systems (ITS) and smart cities (SCs) in ERS. Vehicle emissions are one of the main anthropogenic contributors to global warming and atmospheric pollution. However, effective regulation of transportation emissions is still challenging, even in intelligent transportation systems and smart cities. To realize accurate estimations and credible predictions, a parallel framework is proposed in this letter, consisting of a parallel transportation level and a parallel vehicle level. Through low-cost computational experiments and parallel executions, both accurate estimation and emissionaware optimal planning can be achieved. Unlike previous emission models, modern aftertreatment systems (ATS) are considered as a core module in this novel modular integration model (MIM). An application case on
emissions is conducted to validate the fundamental function of this framework. Compared with two well-known models, MIM shows better performance than two baselines, and the relative errors are below 4% even with unknown engine states.
The main targets of this study are to analyse the environmental impacts of different types of lithium-ion (Li-ion) batteries using Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) and to examine their economic analysis using Life Cycle Cost Assessment (LCCA). Regarding both environmental and economic aspects, this study compares five Li-ion batteries and three marine diesel oils with different sulphur content. Since the Bosporus Strait has one of the busiest inland passenger sea transportations in the world, a ferry serving in Istanbul, Turkey is selected as a case study to investigate the environmental and economic potential of battery power options. The environmental performance of selected power options is investigated under six categories: Global warming potential (GWP), NOx and SOx emissions, particulate matter (PM) emissions, and energy and water consumption. LCA results show that among lithium-ion batteries, Lithium iron phosphate (LFP) battery comes to the forefront in terms of environmental impact.
https://authors.elsevier.com/a/1gKfU4rgZinAgU
In today’s environment of increasing pressure to reduce fuel consumption and emissions of carbon dioxide (CO2) and nitrogen oxides (NOx), the LNG (Liquefied Natural Gas) transportation industry is growing in size and influence. In this context, further efforts are needed to improve the energy efficiency of LNG marine energy power plant. The LNG vessels and their equipment considered in this study have different power consumption requirements depending on the vessel’s mode of operation (loading/unloading, maneuvering, anchoring, at sea, etc.). For each ship mode, where the power plant requirements are the same, the specific fuel consumption (SFOC) and exhaust emissions, NOx and CO2, are compared with a different number of engines in the network to find the optimal number of engines in the network, considering both the safety aspect and the port requirements. An analysis was performed showing the efficiency of the on-board power management system (PMS) in terms of manual load sharing between engines. A comprehensive analysis of the data and its comparison led to the conclusion that the manual distribution of power among the engines is the slightly better solution. The obtained results show that further analysis of the number of engines for a given load with minimum fuel consumption and CO2 and NOx emissions is required.
Industry 4.0 technology has affected almost every sector in the world. Maritime sector is one of them that were affected by this technology. In this study, components of the maritime sector were prioritized to find out which of them should comply with this transformation primarily. Many different criteria were taken into consideration for the solution of such problems. Therefore, multi-criteria decision-making (MCDM) methods required to solve this problem. Fuzzy AHP (Analytic Hierarchy Process) and VIKOR (VlseKriterijumska Optimizacijia I Kompromisno Resenje) hybrid method was employed for revealing the prioritization ranking for maritime sector components. A group of experts assessed and compared 22 criteria and scored them for each alternative. Proposed methodology was employed through the experts’ assessments. Results were displayed and suggestions were given for the further studies
Alternative fuels are crucial to decarbonize the European maritime transport, but their net climate benefits vary with the type of fuel and production country. In this study, we assess the energy potential and climate change mitigation benefits of using agricultural and forest residues in different European countries for drop-in (Fast Pyrolysis, Hydrothermal Liquefaction, and Gasification to Fischer-Tropsch fuels or Bio-Synthetic Natural Gas) and hydrogen-based biofuels (hydrogen, ammonia, and methanol) with or without carbon capture and storage (CCS). Our results show the combinations of countries and biofuel options that successfully achieve the decarbonization targets set by the FuelEU Maritime initiative for the next years, including a prospective analysis that include technological changes projected for the biofuel supply chains until 2050. With the current technologies, the largest greenhouse gas (GHG) mitigation potential per year at a European scale is obtained with bio-synthetic natural gas and hydrothermal liquefaction. Among carbon-free biofuels, ammonia currently has higher mitigation, but hydrogen can achieve a lower GHG intensity per unit of energy with the projected decarbonization of the electricity mixes until 2050. The full deployment of CCS can further accelerate the decarbonization of the maritime sector. Choosing the most suitable renewable fuels requires a regional perspective and a transition roadmap where countries coordinate actions to meet ambitious climate targets.
Dual-fuel (DF) operation with methanol-diesel allows to reduce CO2 emissions, increase efficiency and decrease NOx and soot. This paper describes the experimental results with methanol-water (MeOH-W) blends as a fuel, and has three objectives: (1) whether water acts as a knock suppressant, enabling higher diesel substitution ratios, (2) if water can be a measure to control engine-out NOx emissions given its cooling effect, and (3) to test the effect on brake thermal efficiency (BTE) of a blend of 90% methanol and 10% water by weight, which is interesting from a methanol fuel production cost perspective. Experiments were conducted on a dual-fuel marine Volvo Penta engine with methanol/water weight by weight shares of 50%/50% (MeOH-50), 64%/36% (MeOH-64), 90%/10% (MeOH-90) and 100%/0% (pure methanol, MeOH-100). A maximal increase in BTE of 3.3% and 4.9% were observed when going from respectively MeOH-100 and diesel-only operation to MeOH-50. The maximum methanol energy fraction (MEF) was obtained with pure methanol, equal to 76%, and decreased with increasing water content. NOx emissions decreased with pure methanol compared to diesel-only operation, and further decreased with increasing water content. It is concluded that MeOH-90 does not harm the BTE of the tested dual-fuel engine; and that MeOH-50 and MeOH-64 were able to reach IMO Tier III NOx legislation, but at the same time score worse for greenhouse gas reduction potential as less diesel can be substituted by methanol with these blends.
The fuzzy set theory as one of the key agents of artificial intelligence has been used to deal with vagueness and imprecision during the decision-making process. The software requirements selection is a multicriteria decision making problem which has a key importance for several software development companies. Few methods have been developed to select the software requirements from the list of the elicited requirements using fuzzy analytic hierarchy process (AHP) and fuzzy technique for order of preference by similarity to ideal solution (TOPSIS) methods. Based on our review, we found that little attention is given on the comparison between the fuzzy AHP and fuzzy TOPSIS methods in the context of the software requirements selection problem. To address this issue, this paper presents a comparative analysis of fuzzy AHP and fuzzy TOPSIS methods by considering the small and large set of requirements of an institute examination system based on the following factors: agreement measure, time complexity, rank reversal issue, and number of judgments by decision makers. Based on the comparative study, we found that both fuzzy AHP and fuzzy TOPSIS methods produce the same set of functional requirements based on agreement measure metric in both dataset-1 and dataset-2. Fuzzy AHP requires less time to generate the ranking order in dataset-1; and fuzzy TOPSIS performs better then fuzzy AHP in dataset-2. Fuzzy AHP causes the rank reversal issue; and there is no rank reversal issue in fuzzy TOPSIS and it produces the consistent results. Fuzzy TOPSIS requires less judgment by decision makers then fuzzy AHP. Finally, we discuss the future research directions in the area of SRs selection problem.
The carbon–neutral target leads to the development of low-carbon\zero-carbon marine fuels. Natural gas is currently one of the most competitive low-carbon fuels, however, the low compression ratio used to control knock combustion limits the improvement of thermal efficiency of natural gas engines. Meanwhile, low-pressure injection natural gas engines also suffer from methane slip. In this paper, a system including a fuel reformer and a natural gas engine with a high-pressure EGR of 20% was proposed. EGR could reduce NOx emission and control methane slip but it will decrease the thermal efficiency. Fuel reforming could improve engine thermal efficiency and increase flame propagation speed but it will increase NOx emission. Moreover, EGR could also provide higher temperature energy for fuel reforming. Therefore, the proposed system was designed to achieve the complementary advantages between EGR and fuel reforming. The results showed that the thermal efficiency of the proposed system was 49.3% at the reforming ratio of 5%, which is 2% higher than the original engine and 4.7% higher than the EGR engine. In addition, the methane slip was reduced by 20% and the NOx emission was 2.93 g/kWh, which can meet the IMO Tier III. Finally, the thermo-economic analysis of the system and the EEDI calculation were carried out. The results showed that the annual fuel cost saved by installing the system on the ship was approximately US $151,726 and the EEDI was reduced by 3.75%
Context
The current technology revolution has posed unexpected challenges for the software industry. In recent years, the field of quantum computing (QC) technologies has continued to grow in influence and maturity, and it is now poised to revolutionise software engineering. However, the evaluation and prioritisation of QC challenges in the software industry remain unexplored.
Objective
The purpose of this study is to identify, examine and prioritise the most critical challenges in the software industry by implementing a fuzzy analytic hierarchy process (F-AHP).
Method
First, to identify the key challenges, we conducted a systematic literature review by drawing data from the four most relevant digital libraries and supplementing these efforts with a forward and backward snowballing search. Second, we followed the F-AHP approach to evaluate and rank the identified challenges.
Results
The results show that the key barriers to QC adoption are the lack of technical expertise, information accuracy and organisational interest in adopting the new process. Another critical barrier is the lack of standards of secure communication techniques for implementing QC.
Conclusion
By applying F-AHP, we identified institutional barriers as the highest and organisational barriers as the second highest global weight ranked categories among the main QC challenges facing the software industry. We observed that the highest-ranked local barriers facing the software technology industry are the lack of resources for design and initiative while the lack of organisational interest in adopting the new process is the most significant organisational barrier. Our findings, which entail implications for both academicians and practitioners, reveal the emergent nature of QC research and the increasing need for interdisciplinary research to address the identified challenges.
The MSCs of containerized freight are crippled because of the presence of barriers in a rapidly growing country like India. Identification and evaluation of these barriers is necessary to understand their influence on MSCs. Hence, this study discerned 46 barriers under six major category through extensive literature review and conducting Delphi survey. Thereafter, fuzzy AHP (Analytic Hierarchy Process) is employed to analyze the criticality of the barriers and their relative importance. The results of the study indicate that the infrastructural and legal barriers comes out to be the two most critical among all. At last, strength of the model is also verified by performing sensitivity experiments. The findings of the developed framework are of great use to the industry managers.
Fuzzy AHP is one of the widely used methods in Multi Criteria Decision Making, even in recent times. In Fuzzy AHP, the experts compare the pairwise criteria either jointly or individually. If the number of criteria to be compared is large, there can be ambiguity in the comparisons leading to inconsistency. Some researchers have tried to overcome this issue by considering criteria at global and local levels to reduce the number of criteria to be compared pairwise in each matrix. This simplifies individual matrix as the pairwise comparisons to be made are less in number. But, the numbers of matrices to be solved are increased in such cases. Also, there is a distinct drawback of creating global and local criteria. Secondly, for solving large data problems, it is a tedious affair to find experts sharing their time. In this paper, the authors have introduced an innovative approach to overcome limitations in the existing methodology, by providing an easier way of handling the data with an advantage of keeping all the criteria at the same level, validating the data and minimizing the time required by experts by simplifying the input data requirement for large data problems. New areas of research are cited for solving large matrix problems where pair wise comparisons are desired.
Due to the more stringent regulations on pollutant and greenhouse gas emissions in the maritime transport sector, solutions are being sought to reduce or avoid the emissions generated during the operation of ships. The onboard installation of hydrogen-fuelled fuel cells is a solution respectful with the environment and the marine ecosystem through which ships navigate. In this work, the design of a wellboat and its power plant based on fuel cells fed with hydrogen and hybridised with batteries is conducted, making it a zero-emissions ship that can navigate Emission Control Areas (ECAs). The fuel cells used are polymer electrolyte membrane fuel cells (PEMFCs), and the hydrogen they consume is stored in tanks pressurised at 35 MPa, grouping these tanks into three standard containers (Twenty-Foot Equivalent Units) installed on an exposed deck. The electrical and propulsion needs of the ship are covered by the installed power plant, providing an average power of 1266 kW and a peak power of 2624 kW, making it possible to avoid the emission of 10.8 t of CO 2 , 195 kg of NO x and 9 kg of SO x per 14 h mission.
Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP) is a broadly applied multi-criteria decision-making method to determine the weights of criteria and priorities of alternatives in a structured manner based on pairwise comparison. As subjective judgments during comparison might be imprecise, fuzzy sets have been combined with AHP. This is referred to as fuzzy AHP or FAHP. An increasing amount of papers are published which describe different ways to derive the weights/priorities from a fuzzy comparison matrix, but seldomly set out the relative benefits of each approach so that the choice of the approach seems arbitrary. A review of various fuzzy AHP techniques is required to guide both academic and industrial experts to choose suitable techniques for a specific practical context. This paper reviews the literature published since 2008 where fuzzy AHP is applied to decision-making problems in industry, particularly the various selection problems. The techniques are categorised by the four aspects of developing a fuzzy AHP model: (i) representation of the relative importance for pairwise comparison, (ii) aggregation of fuzzy sets for group decisions and weights/priorities, (iii) defuzzification of a fuzzy set to a crisp value for final comparison, and (iv) consistency measurement of the judgements. These techniques are discussed in terms of their underlying principles, origins, strengths and weakness. Summary tables and specification charts are provided to guide the selection of suitable techniques. Tips for building a fuzzy AHP model are also included and six open questions are posed for future work.
As stricter environmental regulations for sulphur oxide (SOx) emissions emerge, the shipping industry has been deliberating new fuelling options. The three main alternatives for reducing sulphur emissions are switching to higher-quality and low sulphur fuels (commonly referred to as distillates), installing exhaust fuel cleaning structures (frequently referred to as scrubbers), retrofitting present vessels to operate as liquefied natural gas (LNG) powered vessels. Nevertheless, few studies evaluate the three existing alternatives that can reduce marine air exhausts, and fewer develop a general model for a resolution to the choice of the best technology. This study performs an empirical analysis focusing on the three alternatives considered by Korean shipping companies. The main approach involved conducting surveys and interviews to examine Korean shipping companies’ actual response to cope with SOx regulation. The results indicate that, among the nine sub-criteria regarding response to SOx regulation, investment costs (F11) are the most significant factor. In addition, through a description analysis of Korean shipping companies, this study found that there is a difference in the recognition and response direction among companies according to their size.
Various regulations are imposed on shipping to increase energy efficiency and reduce environmental impacts. Alternative fuels and power systems are among the solutions for compliance with these regulations. The power system of a ship may not operate optimally because of the diversity of the operational profile during its lifetime. This article uses an activity-based approach and big data from the Automatic Identification System (AIS) to study the operational profiles of eight ship types operating in Norwegian waters around mainland Norway in 2016. The aim is to identify ship types that can benefit from electric and hybrid propulsion through analysis of their operational profiles. Close to shore, the operational profiles of various ship types are similar, and all ships spend a great proportion of their time with lower loads. As the distance from shore increases, the operational profiles of various ship types follow distinct trends. Among the considered ship types, reefers spend more operational time close to the diesel engine design condition. On the other hand, offshore and passenger ships show the most dynamic operational profiles and spend a large percentage of their operational time with a partial load, away from diesel engine design conditions. Such ships can benefit from hybridisation, diesel-electric propulsion, and other electric concepts, such as batteries and fuel cells. Another option is to downsize diesel engines for better operation while fuel cells and batteries supply peak and partial loads. Operational profiles are plotted and details of the approach are presented in the article.
With the aim of more reliably measuring ships' fuel consumption and emissions several different estimation methods have been put forward and are in use but there is ongoing debate still on the best way to measure maritime emissions. Fuel and emissions monitoring are already a common practice in the shipping industry. But there are currently neither harmonised guidelines nor legal requirements that clearly define the method and the rules to follow to monitor on-board fuel consumption for each situation during navigation.
In this context, this article describes and compares four existing methods (EPA, IMO, Jalkanen and MAN) for calculating energy consumption and emissions, and presents a more realistic method, based on a case study. The purpose is to examine the differences between all of these methods, in order to propose the most suitable method of obtaining the data needed for better energy management, and a method that can be applied to any type of ship. The case study was carried out on Ro-Pax ships, comparing these four different methods through the application of a bottom-up integrated system approach. The study describes in detail and applies the most complete methodology for calculating energy consumption and emissions during cruising, operating in a Speed Reduction Zone (SRZ), manoeuvring and berthing.
Application of the new improved method proposed in this paper could be the first step in implementing operational measures for detecting both abnormal high emissions and abnormal fuel consumption. The application of this method does not, in itself, reduce fuel use or improve efficiency, but it should be the necessary first step to establish uniform operational measures that will improve the management of energy on board ship and monitor accurately the performance of the fleet.