Singapore-based research and technology company, Ecospec Global Technology, said it has introduced a low-cost system capable of dramatically reducing greenhouse gas emissions from ships.

The company recently signed an agreement with Dutch shipping company ForestWave Navigation to incorporate CSNOx technology in six new ship builds, and is in discussion with other shipping companies to install CSNOx on their ships. Ecospec has also formed partnerships with STX Heavy Industries of South Korea and AE&E Lentjes GmbH of Germany to build CSNOx systems into large-scale, onshore industrial construction projects such as power plants, incinerators, and refineries.

According to a company statement, the system, called CSNOx, is capable of significantly reducing carbon dioxide (CO2), sulphur dioxide (SO2) and nitrogen oxide (NOx), all in a single system and by a single process and can also be effective for power plants, refineries and other fossil fuel-burning sites. "This is a major breakthrough for the global shipping and onshore industries," said Chew Hwee Hong, Founder and Managing Director of Ecospec. "No other single piece of commercially available equipment is capable of removing all harmful emissions in one process; and with its compact size, the CSNOx meets the most demanding space constraint problems on board ships. In addition, it does not require ships to switch to lower-sulfur fuel, which costs more. For land-based, onshore industries, this would give conventional facilities such as fossil fuel power generating plants a convenient, low-cost solution to reducing their carbon footprint," he added.

The CSNOx technology not only effectively removes emissions that contribute to climate change but does so without producing secondary pollutants or generating further CO2 emissions. Its compact size and low cost strengthen even further its potential for widespread implementation and positive impact on the environment on a global scale," said the statement. While the CSNOx technology is applicable to a wide range of onshore and offshore industries, Ecospec's initial implementation targeted the shipping industry, which is under increasing pressure to reduce its environmental impact and to comply with stricter emissions requirements. Shipping accounts for an estimated three per cent of global CO2 emissions, and SO2 and NOx emissions from ships have increased by more than 42 per cent since 1990. In initial testing onboard an Aframax tanker in December 2008, the CSNOx system reduced SO2 by 92.9 per cent, NOx by 82.2 per cent and CO2 by 74.4 per cent.

In January 2010, Houston-based American Bureau of Shipping (ABS) a marine and offshore classification services provider, verified the system's efficiencies onboard a 100,000-tonne tanker sailing from Singapore to the Middle East via Sri Lanka. The ABS verification showed the CSNOx effectively removing 99 per cent of SO2, 77 per cent of CO2, and 66 per cent of NOx – results that place emissions well within the latest requirements of the International Maritime Organisation and other international regulations.

At the heart of CSNOx is Ecospec's proprietary Ultra-Low Frequency Electrolysis System, through which freshwater or seawater is fed to make it alkaline, reactive, and effective in removing CO2, SO2 and NOx through reductive absorption.