Ships’ Exhaust Stack Bonnet Ducts Engine Gases through High Temp Hose

A novel invention that successfully captures auxiliary engine and boiler gases while ships are hotelling in port continues to win admirers in the Port of Long Beach, California. The Advanced Maritime Emissions Control System (AMECS) uses 300 feet of flexible, high temperature hose as part of its exhaust capture system. The Master-CLIP HT-850 hose, with neoprene cover, ducts captured emissions at a slight vacuum from a specially designed ship’s smoke stack bonnet to a dockside or barge mounted emissions treatment system (ETS). There, the exhaust gases are scrubbed and filtered to remove pollutants.

According to Exec.VP Matthew Stewart, the AMECS system is being demonstrated on 30 ships in the Southern California port following successful earlier testing sponsored by the Port of Long Beach and the South Coast Air Quality Management District (SCAQMD) as an innovative way to reduce air pollution. The capacity of the AMECS demonstrated in Long Beach is 12,000 SCFM.

– Environmental Market Niches –

The AMECS is the creation of Advanced Cleanup Technologies, Inc. (ACTI), a Rancho Dominguez, CA, environmental services and manufacturing company. ACTI has focused on market niches like ships in port and railroad yards where idling engines pollute the air.

“The high temperature hose application came to us from our distributor, Dunham Rubber,” says Darren Scott, sales director for Masterduct, Inc., in Houston, TX. Dunham Rubber, Greenwood, IN, was contacted by ACTI engineer Bob Sharp in his search for a specialty hose that would withstand high temperature ships’ engines exhaust fumes in the AMECS exhaust capture system.

– Engineering Support –

“Working back and forth with Bob Sharp in the ACTI engineering department, we were able to specify a high temp hose with a Neoprene cover,” says Darren Scott. “The hose had to be durable and flexible enough to be lifted by crane when the attached bonnet is placed on top of the ship’s exhaust stack,” Scott explains. The hose system uses 25 foot Master-CLIP HT-850 hose sections and specially designed connectors to provide a high quality marine grade product. The silicone-coated fabric hose is specified to duct high temperature diesel engine fumes. An integral metal helix maintains the hose shape while offering flexibility during deployment of the bonnet. A total length of 300 feet of 24 inch diameter hose with a neoprene outer cover for extra protection is used in the AMECS exhaust capture system.

– Long Term Durability Assessment –

Tests conducted by the Port of Long Beach in 2008 and 2009 demonstrated that over 95 percent 24 inch HT-850 hose venting engine exhaust fumes from the ship to the air scrubber unitof nitrous oxide, sulfur oxide and particulate matter – the major pollutants in a ship’s emissions – were captured and scrubbed by the AMECS system. Metro Ports, the operator of the bulk cargo terminal, Port of Long Beach, has been a proponent of the AMECS technology according to published news reports. The innovative bonnet-hose-scrubber system involves use on 30 ships berthing in port under a long-term agreement okayed in 2010 by the Long Beach Board of Harbor Commissioners to test the long term durability of the AMECS in a marine environment