engleski

A procedure for improving the energy efficiency and environmental performance of short sea and inland waterway vessels

The emissions released due to the combustion of fossil fuels in marine engines negatively affect the environment and human health. This impact of shipping is more pronounced when the ships operate near populated areas and spend much time in ports, and in that way, directly impair the air quality of the local population. These ships are usually engaged in the short-sea shipping and inland navigation sector. In this doctoral dissertation, the focus is put on the Croatian short-sea shipping and inland navigation fleets, which mainly include outdated ships with low energy efficiency. Their design methods either did not include energy efficiency criteria or included them according to relatively old and simple models and criteria. These fleets need to adapt to current environmental trends, whereby it is necessary to choose a set of appropriate technical and operational measures that would be cost- effective for the current fleet situation and market circumstances. In this research, the investigation of applicability and availability of alternative power systems onboard considered ships is performed. By comparing the different alternatives based on their environmental impact and economic performance, obtained by performing Life-Cycle Assessments and Life-Cycle Cost Assessments, the set of appropriate alternatives that satisfy both criteria is identified. To investigate the energy efficiency of the ships powered by alternative power systems, the mathematical model for simultaneous assessment of ship energy efficiency and environmental friendliness is formulated, which can be applied not only to diesel-powered ships but to a range of alternative powering options. The final step in the research was the development of the design procedure for the power systems of short-sea shipping and inland waterway vessels, with higher energy efficiency and lower overall costs than the existing solutions. The developed procedure is tested for the ships engaged in the short-sea shipping fleet, and in most cases, the results indicated full electrification with only a battery as the optimal solution for the replacement of the diesel power system configuration of considered ships. Although the Croatian short sea-sea and inland waterway fleets are taken as test cases, the developed methodology is generally applicable if a set of input data on fleet technical and operational properties and corresponding fuel cycles is known.

Short-sea shipping sector ; Inland navigation sector ; Alternative ship power system ; Electrification ; Energy efficiency ; Environmental friendliness

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