Biofuel expertise

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INSIGHT FOR PORT EXECUTIVES

MAN ES TO LEVERAGE STATIONARY BIOFUEL EXPERTISE

MAN Energy Solutions plans to leverage its expertise in the combustion of biofuels in stationary applications in the maritime market, Finn Fjeldhøj, Head of Engineering, MAN Energy Solutions - Small Bore at Holeby tells The Motorship.

Following the recent decision to extend the ISO 8217 standard for fuel requirements in the marine industry from HVO and 7% FAME blends to other types of biofuel, MAN Energy Solutions expects the market for biofuels to expand rapidly.

In response, MAN Energy Solutions has recently distributed a new set of Guidelines for the Use of Biofuels to its existing customers, outlining operational advice for the use of biofuel with its two-stroke main movers. The engine designer and builder’s guidance also addresses the introduction of biofuels into the large-bore 4-stroke market.

“We think the market for biofuels will take off,” Fjeldhøj says simply.

However, the likely increase in demand for operating large-bore 4-stroke engines or 2-stroke engines on biofuel blends is also likely to lead to increase in demand for gensets that can operate on the same fuel mixture.

Fjeldhøj told The Motorship in an exclusive interview in late September that MAN Energy Solutions has an extensive history in assessing biofuel blends before their introduction into the market. The Small Bore team in Holeby also had an established business supplying gensets to the stationary market for operation on a variety of different fuels.

“Depending on the fuel type and blend, we can offer a range of services including engine component upgrades, injection timing modifications, and even turbocharger upgrades, to ensure that the engine can operate successfully on the fuel.”

However, owing to the current lack of standardisation in the biofuel market, there is no single retrofit service package for the different fuels. “We are currently taking everything on a case by case basis.”

Biofuel Blend Trial Results

MAN Energy Solutions has been participating in trials to evaluate the performance of biofuel and VLSFO blends at concentrations of up to 50% biofuel, Kjell Aabo told The Motorship.

One of the trials has been carried out with a Western European biofuel supplier using a 16/24 MAN test engine.

“The trial covered six different biofuel blends at concentrations of up to 50%, and included emission measurements of different greenhouse gases, including NO, NOx, SOx, particulates, and black carbon.

The tests threw up a number of interesting results, including that overall NOx emissions did not increase after biofuel was added to the VLSFO. The mixture of biofuel in the VLSFO made the blend more stable.”

Range of Fuels

MAN Energy Solutions has acquired a significant amount of operational experience running stationary engines on a range of biofuels since 1994, Fjeldhøj told The Motorship.

Although it was regarded as a niche solution with the Small Bore Genset business, stationary gensets had run on crude palm oil (CPO), FAME, HVO, palm oil, stearin, tallow (animal fat), and used cooking oil.

While most of the installations were smaller than 3,800kW, a Belgian customer had operated an 8x14V52/55 installation on vegetable oil, with an output of 85,000kW. A different Belgian customer had operated several facilities on tallow with output of up to 17,500kW.

8 CGI 6L 2330 Mk3

Fish Oil for Aquaculture

One of the most intriguing options currently under consideration is waste fish oil. The waste fish oil is being assessed in response to a request by a Norwegian fishing vessel operator. The trial is expected to examine the performance of fish oil and VLSFO blends at concentrations of between 25% and 30% fish oil, or B20 and B30, Fjeldhøj noted.

The initial results of the trial should be available by Summer 2023, Fjeldhøj noted. The solution is expected to attract significant interest from larger European trawler operators, The Motorship notes. The potential of recycling waste fish oil generated from processing operations on board a factory vessel would lower operating costs and reduce waste disposal requirements.

Properties Diesel Fish Oil FOME

Density at 15 C, kg/m³ 850 923 873

Kinematic viscosity at 40C. (mm²/s) 2.5 29.59 6.10 Specific gravity (gm/cm³) 0.83 0.93 0.873

Higher heating value (MJ/kg) 43 39.01 41.60

Flash point (C) 56 165 110

Lignin and pyrolysis based bio fuels

A separate fuel that is being assessed is lignin and pyrolysis fuel based on waste feedstock. Unlike some of the firstgeneration vegetable based fuels that MAN Energy Solutions assessed in the 1990s, suppliers are focusing on second -generation plant based fuels to ensure that potential food is not being diverted from human or animal food chains. “Ensuring supply chain transparency to guarantee that they are not diverting food away from human populations will be needed, particularly for extended international supply chains,” Fjeldhøj noted, adding that a variety of potential technological solutions existed.

When considering a new fuel, such as lignin-based biofuels, Fjeldhøj noted that the properties of the ligninbased fuel itself need to be carefully evaluated, including the ash, volatile matter and the carbon content in the fuel.

After theoretical studies, Fjeldhøj noted that a practical evaluation needs to be carried out to ascertain how the fuel will affect the engine’s performance, the wear and the emissions profile.

These tests are typically carried out on MAN Energy Solutions’ L21/31 test engine at Frederikshavn. Aside from the environmental emissions measurements, the tests examine optimal blending ratios and also the impact of the fuel on components.

Technical Considerations

Fjeldhøj noted that the impact of the fuel on components in general, and the fuel injection nozzles in particular, varied according to the different fuel feedstock.

The increased acidity of the biofuel blends typically had an impact on the engine components, although different fuels had different impacts.

“The interesting thing about operating the engines on tallow was that it actually extended the time between significant damage to a test engine’s fuel pumps. The day before, they had performed perfectly well when blended together.”

Consultancy Service Opportunities

Fjeldhøj stressed that there was likely to be a greater requirement for fuel analysis services in the future. While shipowners have dominated MAN ES’ biofuels consultancy requirements, the upcoming introduction of a greater range of fuels was likely to increase demand.

In particular, the introduction of new small scale fuels from small suppliers was likely to require verification.

While the cost of introducing new fuels into the maritime market was likely to be prohibitive for very small volume suppliers of niche fuels, owing to the involvement of class societies and regulatory bodies, there was little doubt that the number and range of biofuels reaching the market was set to increase rapidly. This was particularly the case because of the wider range of second-generation biofuels that are under investigation. “We are currently looking at testing fuels based on waste nutshells, for example,” Fjeldhøj said.

“We don’t think that pyrolysis fuels based on recycled tyres are going to gain a significant market share, but looking further ahead there are possibilities for other pyrolysis fuels, such as bagasse, palm kernel cake (PKC) and nutshells pyrolysis bio oil, to enter the marine biofuel supply chain.”

While the introduction of biofuel blending requirements for marine fuels under the EU’s upcoming FuelEUMaritime proposals was likely to create significant demand, The Motorship notes, there was little prospect of biofuels becoming a regional market.

First vs Second Generation Biofuels

Second-generation biofuels are made on the basis of lignocelluloses, wood biomass, agricultural residues, waste vegetable oil, and public waste. Third-generation biofuels are derived from microalgae cultivation; however, most efforts to produce fuel from algae have been abandoned.

overhauls (TBO) to 24,000”, Fjeldhøj noted.

Fjeldhøj also identified the lack of a standard specification for biofuels as a particular challenge for shipowners.

This meant that both the fuel and the engine set up would need to be tested whenever a shipowner wanted to introduce a new fuel into the market.

“We expect new standard specifications to the introduced as biofuels are progressively introduced into the market, such as Shell’s new biorefinery in the Netherlands, although smaller fuel supplier and start ups are likely to continue to need help.”

Fjeldhøj noted that aside from issues around the consistency of individual biofuels, there are wider questions around how fuel blends will perform when combined.

“We have first hand experience of seeing just how biofuel blends can interact against each other to create foaming issues, causing

8 Finn Fjeldhøj,

Head of Engineering, MAN Energy Solutions - Small Bore at Holeby