LNME
SUSTAINABLE FUELS
IS BIO CONTENT IN FUEL POSING RISKS TO MARINE ASSETS?
Pierre Poitras, Technical Consultant at Conidia Bioscience, looks at how the increased percentage of biofuels can raise the cost of fuel as well as leave it susceptible to microbes
T
o help meet environmental regulations and reduce the environmental impact of the shipping sector, increasing percentages of bio-components are being added to marine fuels. But what difference does this
40 | LOGISTICS NEWS ME | MAY 2022
make to fuel husbandry and are there any risks to the marine operators? There are certainly some areas for concern and fuel management procedures may need to be adapted to avoid unnecessary maintenance costs or damage to engine systems.
To help meet environmental regulations and reduce the environmental impact of the shipping sector, increasing percentages of bio-components are being added to marine fuels. In 2017, ISO 8217 6th edition allowed additional Distillate FAME (DF) grades: DFA, DFZ and DFB with a maximum Fatty Acid Methyl Esters (FAME) content of 7.0 v/v %, another potential facilitator of increased water content and microbial contamination. These are complemented with new biofuels, which are created using innovative refining processes, such as hydro processing of vegetable oils (HVO) and the co-processing of waste product (oils, plastics) and other raw material to substitute conventional crude oil, which may have different trace contaminants. WWW.CBNME.COM
