Green Scrubbing
Last April, with assistance from the U.S. and Canadian governments, Holland America’s Zaandam became the first cruise ship to install "green scrubber" technology and continuous emissions monitoring developed by UK-based Krystallon. The system mixes exhaust gases with seawater to "scrub" out sulfur dioxides; the water is then treated to remove harmful components, while the sulfur oxides are converted into harmless sulfates and neutral salts. The scrubber should reduce visible smoke to zero—but more important, it significantly reduces invisible, but harmful, components of exhaust gases. A final report on the program will be released in June 2008, and if the test proves a success, expect many other ships to start scrubbing as well.