United States Air and Radiation EPA420-F-03-001
Environmental Protection January 2003
Agency
Office of Transportation and Air Quality
Regulatory
Announcement
Emission Standards Adopted for
New Marine Diesel Engines
The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is adopting emission
standards for new marine diesel engines that will be installed on vessels
flagged or registered in the United States. The near-term, Tier 1
standards in this rule are equivalent to the internationally negotiated
emission limits for oxides of nitrogen (NOx). These standards will go into
effect in 2004 and are based on readily available emission-control
technology. We will also undertake another rulemaking in a few years to
consider a second tier of more stringent standards. This fact sheet
contains an overview of the new standards and information about the
future rulemaking.
Which marine diesel engines are covered by the new
standards?
The Tier 1 standards apply to marine diesel engines manufactured Janu-
ary 1, 2004 or later if they will be installed on vessels flagged or regis-
tered in the United States1. The Tier 1 standards will apply to older
engines only if (1) they are converted from land-based to marine engines
or (2) they are installed on a new vessel. More specifically, the engines
that will be required to meet the standards are:
1 This final rule applies to "new" marine diesel engines and to "new" marine vessels
that include marine diesel engines. In general, a "new" marine diesel engine or a "new"
marine vessel is one that is produced for sale in the United States or that is imported
into the United States. The emission standards established in this final rule, therefore,
will typically apply to marine diesel engines that are installed on vessels flagged or
registered in the Unites States.
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• Marine diesel engines with per-cySinder displacement at or above
30 liters
These engines are also known as Category 3 marine diesel engines.
They range in size from about 2,500 to 70,000 kilowatts (3,000 to
100,000 horsepower). These are very large marine diesel engines
used for propulsion power on ocean-going vessels such as container
ships, oil tankers, bulk carriers, and cruise ships.
• Marine diesel engines with per-cylinder displacement between 2.5
and 30 liters
These engines are also known as Category 1 and Category 2 marine
diesel engines. They range in size from about 500 to 8,000 kilo-
watts (700 to 11,000 horsepower). These engines are used to pro-
vide propulsion power on many kinds of vessels including tugboats,
pushboats, supply vessels, fishing vessels, and other commercial
vessels in and around U.S. ports. They are also used as stand-alone
generators for auxiliary electrical power on many types of vessels.
In 1999, we adopted emission standards for commercial marine diesel
engines smaller than 30 liters per cylinder (Category 1 and Category 2).
Under that program, the internationally negotiated NOx standards would
be voluntary until EPA's more stringent Tier 2 standards begin to apply.
EPA's Tier 2 standards are more stringent than the MARPOL Annex VI2
NOx standards. EPA's Tier 2 standards also include limits for paniculate
matter, carbon monoxide, and hydrocarbon emissions. Information about
these standards can be found in our fact sheet entitled, "Emission Stan-
dards for New Commercial Marine Diesel Engines" (EPA420-F-99-043,
November 1999) and on our Web site at www.epa.gov/otaq/marine.htiTi.
What are the new Tier 1 standards?
The near-term Tier 1 standards we are adopting are equivalent to the
internationally negotiated NOx limits adopted by the International
Maritime Organization (IMO) in MARPOL Annex VI. These Tier 1
standards will be enforceable on U.S. vessels with engines manufactured
January 1, 2004 or later. These standards were voluntary for Category 1
2 MARPOL is the International Convention on the Prevention of Pollution from Ships,
1973, as Modified by the Protocol of 1978 Relating Thereto. You can obtain more
information about this Annex and the associated NOx Technical Code in Docket A-
97-50, Document II-B-01. Copies of updated versions can be obtained from the
International Maritime Organization (www.imo.org).
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and Category 2 marine diesel engines under our 1999 rule; they are now
mandatory for those as well as Category 3 marine diesel engines. As
shown in the figure, the NOx standard varies from 9.8 to 17.0 grams per
kilowatt-hour (g/kW-hr), depending on an engine's maximum operating
speed.
Tier 1 NOx Standards
NOx [g/kW-hrl
17
45 x rpm
9.8
rpm
<130
130-2000
>2000
250 500 750 1000 1250 1500 1750 2000
Rated Engine Speed [rpm]
These near-term standards are achievable with less than one year of lead
time because manufacturers are already certifying their engines to the
equivalent international standards under our program for Voluntary
Statements of Compliance. These near-term standards are being
achieved through the application of currently available technology,
including optimized turbocharging, higher compression ratios, and
optimized fuel injection. Engines meeting the Tier 1 standards have
emission levels about 20 percent lower than uncontrolled levels.
The Tier 1 standards will continue to apply to Category 3 marine diesel
engines until we adopt more stringent standards in a future rulemaking.
The Tier 1 standards will continue to apply to Category 1 and Category
2 marine diesel engines until 2007, when the more stringent Tier 2
standards we adopted in 1999 go into effect.
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Why is EPA adopting the Tier 1 if they are
the as the international limits?
The international standards apply to engines installed on vessels con-
structed on or after January 1, 2000, but they are not yet enforceable.
The MARPOL Annex VI NOx limits will go into force twelve months
after the Annex has been ratified by 15 countries representing at least 50
percent of the world merchant shipping tonnage. Adopting the interna-
tional NOx limits in this rule makes them enforceable for engines on
U.S. vessels under U.S. law.
As of January 2003, more than four years after it was adopted, the
Annex has been ratified by six countries representing about 26 percent
of the world's merchant shipping.3 We expect that it will be ratified by
several other countries, including the United States, and will go into
effect in the next few years.
What are EPA's for the Tier 2 for
Category 3 marine engines?
This final rule commits us to adopt technology-forcing Tier 2 standards
for Category 3 marine diesel engines by April 2007. We will consider
the availability of advanced technologies such as those used in other
diesel engine applications as well as water emulsification and selective
catalytic reduction. Engine manufacturers are already developing ways
to apply these technologies to marine diesel engines. While there is a
certain amount of information available about these advanced technolo-
gies now, there are several outstanding technical issues concerning their
widespread commercial use, including the impacts of fuel sulfur on
emissions, emissions at low engine loads, and particulate matter emis-
sions. Adopting the standards at a later date will allow us to obtain
important additional information on the use of these advanced technolo-
gies that we expect to become available over the next few years. This
will also allow us to pursue further negotiations in the international
arena to achieve more stringent global emission standards for marine
diesel engines.
3 The countries that have ratified Annex VI are Sweden, Norway, Baha-
mas, Singapore, Marshall Islands, and Liberia. Information about Annex
VI ratification can be found at www.imo.org (look under Conventions,
Status of Conventions - Complete List).
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Is for
3
We are not adopting emission standards for particulate matter (PM) from
Category 3 engines in this final rule. The majority of PM emissions from
large marine diesel engines comes directly from the high concentration
of sulfur in the residual fuel they use, so the simplest way to reduce
these emissions is by removing sulfur from the fuel. Annex VI provides
a mechanism to control the sulfur content of fuels used by vessels that
operate in specially designated SOx Emission Control Areas (SECAs).
After the Annex goes into force, ships operating in these designated
areas must use marine fuel with a sulfur content below 15,000 ppm or
aftertreatment technology to achieve equivalent emission reductions (for
comparison, sulfur levels in marine residual fuels may be as high as
45,000 ppm). We intend to investigate this special designation for one or
more areas in the United States. We will also reconsider this issue in our
future rulemaking.
the
to the
The certification and testing requirements we are adopting for Category
3 engines are similar, but not identical to the provisions contained in
Annex VI and the associated NOx Technical Code. The differences
between the two programs are intended to ensure that test data be repre-
sentative of actual in-use conditions and that manufacturers demonstrate
that the emission controls will be durable for the full useful life of the
engine. We specify that this useful life for Category 3 engines is three
years, based on the time that engines operate before being rebuilt for the
first time. To allow manufacturers time to incorporate these changes in
their testing and certification procedures, we are adopting a provision
that will allow manufacturers to certify their engines with EPA by using
the international procedures on an interim basis, after which they must
use the procedures in this final rule.
For Category 1 and Category 2 engines, we specify certification and
testing requirements based on the requirements we adopted for these
engines when we set the Tier 2 standards in 1999. Similar to the provi-
sions for Category 3 engines, we allow manufacturers to certify their
engines using the international procedures until the Tier 2 standards
apply.
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What is a Statement of Voluntary Compliance?
As noted above, manufacturers are already producing engines that meet
the Annex VI standards. EPA issues Statements of Voluntary Compli-
ance for engines that meet the requirements of Annex VI using the
procedures in the NOx Technical Code. This certification process ad-
dresses the need for manufacturers to sell compliant engines before the
Annex goes into force. An EPA-issued Statement of Voluntary Compli-
ance is similar to an EPA-issued Certificate of Conformity, which we
issue for engines that meet the emission standards and other require-
ments in 40 CFR part 94. We expect that engine manufacturers will be
able to apply for both of these documents in a single application.
For more information about our voluntary certification program, see
"Guidance for Certifying to MARPOL Annex VI," VPCD-99-02. This
letter is available on our Web site at: www.epa.gov/otaq/regs/nonroad/
marine/ci/imolettr.pdf.
How will EPA's future rule interface with international
action?
As explained above, we are making a commitment to develop more
stringent standards under the Clean Air Act for marine diesel engines
used on U.S. vessels. The Act requires us to adopt standards that reflect
the greatest degree of emission reductions achievable through the appli-
cation of technology that will be available, taking into consideration the
availability and costs of the technology, and noise, energy, and safety
factors. We will also consider whether we have the discretion under the
Clean Air Act to apply any second tier of standards to engines on foreign
vessels that enter U.S. ports.
Most ocean-going vessels that come to the United States are flagged in
other countries and are subject to the international standards. The United
States will be participating in discussions under the International Mari-
time Organization to advocate a new set of more stringent emission
standards for marine diesel engines that would apply to engines on both
U.S. and foreign vessels. These discussions are expected to begin in the
next few years. The schedule for our future rulemaking will allow us to
take into account progress in the international arena toward more strin-
gent emission standards for marine diesel engines.
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Will EPA consider mores stringent for
Category 1 and Category 2 marine engines in
the future rule?
As part of our future rule, we also intend to consider more stringent
standards for Category 1 and Category 2 marine diesel engines. We
proposed Tier 3 standards for these engines in 1998 but did not finalize
them in 1999 due to concerns about the emission-control technology
necessary for greater reductions. We expect that additional information
will be available soon that will help us determine if the more advanced
technologies that will be applied to the land-based counterparts of these
engines can be used on marine diesel engines.
Where Can I Get More information?
You can access documents on marine diesel engines on the Office of
Transportation and Air Quality Web site at:
www. epa. gov/otaq/marine. htm
You can also contact us at:
U.S. Environmental Protection Agency
Assessment and Standards Division
2000 Traverwood Drive
Ann Arbor, MI 48105
voice-mail: (734) 214-4636
e-mail: asdinfo@epa.gov
You can access documents related to MARPOL Annex VI on the Interna-
tional Maritime Organization Web site at: www.imo.org
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