Limited efficiency of wet scrubbers in reducing the environmental impact of ship-emitted particles
Abstract Sulfur dioxide pollution by ship emissions can be efficiently decreased by using exhaust gas scrubbers, yet particles can pass through the scrubber and be released into the atmosphere. Here, we studied the impact of using a wet scrubber on the composition of particle emissions, by single-particle analysis. At low engine loads, results show no significant changes in particle composition of metals, salts, and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAH). At high engine loads, the scrubber reduced soot and PAH signatures about fourfold. Particles passing through the scrubber undergo minimal chemical changes, except for sulfate uptake. The cleaning effect of wet scrubbers is attributed to the removal of water-soluble gas-phase compounds, diffusion-dominated uptake of ultrafine particles, and wet deposition of coarse particles. The scrubber has little effect on reducing the health and environmental impacts of the remaining particles that pass through it. These emitted particles, primarily in the 60–200 nm size range, constitute a significant portion of the inhalable particle mass and have the potential for long-range transport.
Authors
- Ralf Zimmermann (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6280-3218)
- Mohammad Reza Saraji-Bozorgzad
- Seongho Jeong (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-8057-7827)
- J Bendl (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-2322-5483)
- Bert Buchholz (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-2497-0231)
- Thorsten Streibel (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-0221-2125)
- Johannes Passig (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3876-1716)
- Sven Ehlert (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1908-5812)
- Uwe Etzien
- Uwe Käfer (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4016-0661)
- Thomas Adam
- Ellen Iva Rosewig
- Robert Irsig (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4998-8035)
- Martin Sklorz (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-8043-0024)
- Hendryk Czech (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-8377-4252)
- Barbara Giocastro (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4269-6929)
- Haseeb Hakkim (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-0534-3347)
- Julian Schade (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7906-6744)
- Lukas Anders
- Martin Bauer (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1987-0711)
- Aleksandrs Kalamašņikovs
- Marco Schmidt
Institutions
- Helmholtz Zentrum München (DE)
- Universität der Bundeswehr München (DE)
- Helios Hospital Schwerin (DE)
- University of Rostock (DE)
Publication Details
- Journal
- Environmental Chemistry Letters
- Published
- 2025-03-17
- DOI
- https://doi.org/10.1007/s10311-025-01830-x
- Citations
- 2
- Primary Topic
- Maritime Transport Emissions and Efficiency
- Type
- article
- Field-Weighted Citation Impact
- 1.60
Funders
- Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft
- Universität Rostock