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EnSolve Biosystems has been awarded a Phase II Small Business Innovation Research Grant ($445,000) from the National Science Foundation (NSF) to develop a prototype treatment device for the removal of hydrocarbons from sulphur oxide (SOx) scrubber treatment systems.

Commenting on the news, EnSolve said: "Current scrubber systems focus on the removal of SOx and nitrogen oxides (NOx) from ship engines, rather than hydrocarbons that typically end up in the scrubber effluent. Such effluent would likely violate International Maritime Organization (IMO) clean-water standards due to excess hydrocarbon levels. EnSolve's technology (trade named EnScrubTM) addresses the hydrocarbon portion of this wastestream."

"The developed product will be an add-on device to SOx scrubber systems," said EnSolve CEO Jason Caplan. "As such, EnScrub will complement, rather than compete with, scrubber companies. The Phase I work, completed in 2011, showed hydrocarbon reductions of greater than 99% from simulated scrubber effluent, so we are confident that we can scale the technology in a timely manner."

Similar to EnSolve's Seatrade Award-winning PetroLiminator® Oil Water Separator (OWS), the EnScrub technology uses a combination of physical and biological methods to treat hydrocarbons from scrubber effluent.

The commercial-ready EnScrub product is anticipated to yield lower wastes and, consequently, lower operating costs than conventional technologies due to the "green" nature of the technology.