Finnish marine engine producer Wartsila will install a waste gasification system on Regal Princess, one of the new liners in Princess Cruises fleet.
The system is due to enable safe disposal of vessel's waste via a self-fuelling thermal decomposition unit designed to reduce greenhouse gases. It will help to lessen the requirement to offload waste at shore facilities. The owner of Princess Cruises, Carnival Corporation, placed the equipment order in July 2019.
Wartsila’s gasification unit will replace one of Regal Princess' incinerators and will safely dispose of cruise liner's contaminated, dry-burnable and hazardous waste in a sustainable way. According to Wartsila, the emissions quality from the system ‘exceeds the standard of land-based thermal destruction’.
The gasification system is expected to recover energy from the waste heat that is produced by the thermal destruction process, which means that additional emission savings and energy can be gained. The system will help reduce the ship’s waste to less than 5% of the original volume. It will produce a sterilized material called BioChar, which is recycled within the unit as fuel.