As part of New York City’s ongoing efforts to clean up the pollution in its surrounding waters, NY Waterway has decided to revamp nine of its ferries with new engines and catalysts designed to lower greenhouse gas emissions in the environment.
Photo courtesy of wirednewyork.com.
Part of the financing for this project will include $2.5 million in funding secured from a grant by the New York City Department of Transportation (NYC DOT) and a $900,000 contribution from the NY Waterway.
NY Waterway has also already converted the fleet to use 100 percent ultra-low sulfur diesel.
“The city has set a high standard with a cleaner retrofit for Staten Island ferry boats and equipping private fleets with this technology now brings a new standard to the industry in New York,” said DOT Commissioner Janette Sadik-Khan in a statement.
NY Waterway estimates that it carries about 35,000 passengers per day on 31 boats serving New Jersey, Manhattan, Brooklyn, Queens, Rockland, Westchester, Orange, and Dutchess County.
NY Waterways will now be installing in each of the nine previously mentioned ferries a CAT C18 ACERT marine propulsion engine, which (for the technically inclined) is an inline six, four-stroke, 18:1-liter diesel engine, that’s electronically governed, turbo-charged, and after-cooled.
“Rated from 339 to 847 kW, these engines meet the most current offshore emissions requirements, including EPA Maine Tier 2 and IMO Tier II, and are EPA Marine Tier 3 capable,” said the ferry company.
In addition, NY Waterway is also installing “customized diesel oxidation catalysts” on all of its 31 ferries. These catalysts will basically reduce the emissions of liquid hydrocarbons (such as propanes, butanes, pentanes and heavier products) from the fuels.
An undisclosed amount of financing for the project has also come from the New York State Energy Research and Development Authority (NYSERDA), which said it “estimates that these measures will result in a reduction of approximately 30 tons of nitrogen oxides and two tons of particulate matter each year for the life of the equipment and vessels.”
NY Waterway and the NYSERDA jointly said that they “are performing extensive emissions testing to confirm the actual emission reductions, and the preliminary test results should be available in early 2012.”
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