System for Identifying Ships Using High-Sulfur-Content Fuel Oil in Port Waters

Abstract

This study develops a system named Wuhan University of Technology Intelligent Tracer (WUT-iTracer) for identifying ships using high-fuel-sulfur-content (FSC) fuel oil in port waters. The system integrates a land-based sniffing monitoring module and a numerical simulation module. The land-based sniffing monitoring module collects and processes simultaneous several parameters from the automatic identification system (AIS) and micrometeorological monitoring system, which include the concentrations of gaseous pollutants emitted from ships, marine meteorological parameters, and dynamic and static information of ships. The numerical simulation module was developed based on a mobile ship emissions diffusion model, which estimates the concentration of SO2 at the location of the WUT-iTracer assuming the ship using compliant fuel. The relative difference between the measured and simulated concentration of SO2 is used to detect if the ship uses high-FSC fuel oil. The WUT-iTracer was installed on the shore of Yantian Port, Shenzhen, China, during June and August 2018. Ten ships were selected as samples to verify the efficacy of the WUT-iTracer. Based on these data, it was found that the ship can be treated as using high-FSC (>0.5%) fuel oil if the relative difference between the measured and simulated SO2 concentration is larger than 44%. The field test shows that the WUT-iTracer works well for identifying ships with high-FSC fuel oil. However, further tests and developments are needed for the system to work in different ports and weather conditions.