Annual emission footprint calculation and emission estimation approach related to main parameters for bulk carriers in life cycle assessment (LCA)

Ship building sector is one the oldest production and transportation methods. Either merchant or military ships have always a great importance down the ages. Using ships was the only way to discover new continents for long centuries. Although there are alternative technologies for transportation and defense, ships are still very important. Due to their great carrying capacity, ships have a good part in economic development and sustainability. The increase and improvement in shipping bring an economic recovery in its wake. Besides its great effect on economy and human life, shipping has also considerable harmful effects on human health and environment and it is predicted that these effects will increase in the near future. Harmful effects of ship emissions are well investigated and documented. There have been many important international studies on reducing these emissions. Besides the rules and regulations, there are important innovative studies on new technologies. In this study, ship emissions are expanded on and annual emission footprint calculation was made of a three bulk carrier by using their annual cruise data. In order to calculate the emissions, fuel consumption and engine power methods are used. Emission factors were taken from two different studies. The calculated emission data is divided to the journey data and thus, emission densities for each route have been calculated. Finally, emission estimation formulas are obtained from the two methods by regression analyses. The formulas are based on ship main characteristics and the emission amount data. By these formulas, the emission amounts can be estimated even during pre-design.