In the United States emissions regulations recently came into effect (2007) that mandated ultra low sulfur diesel and particle filtration for vehicle exhaust sy

In the United States emissions regulations recently came into effect (2007) that mandated ultra low sulfur diesel and particle filtration for vehicle exhaust systems. I wonder if the particle filtration technology could be applied to ships, and what the implications would be. Also, the fuel being burned appears to be a byproduct of petroleum distillation, and while ships are burning it "because they can", I wonder what the other options are for disposing of it. Legislating away all of the consumers of a byproduct does not get rid of the byproduct. I would assume that the petroleum could be further distilled out of the byproduct, to some extent, but that at the end there would be some waste sludge that might be unmarketable. If that's the case, then THAT becomes a disposal headache, and I'd be curious to see how that plays out.