8 minute read
On the go with HVO
Almost a year since the newly formed IWA Sustainable Boating Group stumbled over HVO, Jonathan Mosse explains how they’ve been pu ing the fuel through its paces
FIND OUT MORE about IWA’s Sustainable Boating Group at waterways. org.uk/greenboating.
Before hydrotreated vegetable oil (HVO) came onto the scene, fi rst-generation biodiesel was already earning itself a bad name across pre much all applications that involved storing diesel for extended periods, om farmers to boaters, through to those operating stand-by generators. Anywhere, in fact, where there was a signifi cant gap between purchase and use.
With a ten-year storage life and a chemical composition identical to mineral diesel (minus its aromatic, mineral and sulphur content) the IWA Sustainable Boating Group soon realised that second-generation HVO fuel, however, was a product that could potentially be a straight drop-in replacement, compatible with anything that was already in a boater’s fuel tank.
At 90%-plus carbon neutral and with greatly reduced particulate and NOx emissions, HVO represented a simple fi rst step along the road to the Government’s net zero carbon target looming less than 30 years away. Of equal importance, this massive gain came without any need to change the boat’s means of propulsion or to modi the existing engine in any way. Consequently, the 80,000-odd diesel engines powering today’s inland waterways cra could see out their days through to a natural retirement, more than justi ing their embedded carbon content.
Too simple?
Undoubtedly, electric drive engines in one form or another are the future, as the IWA Vision Paper robustly testifi es. Until the hydrogen-powered fuel cell (or a possible derivative) holds sway, much of the on-board electrici will come om a diesel-fuelled generator, which in its turn can be powered with second generation biofuel in the form of HVO.
All very straightforward. Or it would be if we boaters simply stuck with using diesel for propulsion. The reali is, however, that we also heat and cook with it. There’s also the tendency among a signifi cant proportion of boaters to lean towards the antique and the classic when it comes to choosing engines.
From afi cionados through to gongoozlers, we are all thrilled by the sound of a 1930s Bolinder approaching erratically down the cut. But would that same engine be equally ecstatic once transferred to a diet of HVO?
While nearly every extant manufacturer of diesel engines in the world had given their blessing for the use of HVO in their products, nobody, as far as IWA was aware, had tested the fuel in the combination of uses a boater might put it to, nor in the range of classic engines powering both historic and contemporary
BELOW: HVO-fuelled GPS Arcadia and loaded barge on the
Thames tideway.
craft. Herein lay the challenge (and a pursuit to keep me out of mischief for the next year or so), as from the inland waterways perspective HVO still clearly deserved extensive testing, so that boaters could feel confident that they were not dealing with a derivative of snake oil!
IWA testing
Our testing regime fell into two distinct parts: domestic use and fuelling historic engines. Covid travel restrictions initially limited the trial of the 1,000 litres of HVO kindly donated by Crown Oil to engines and equipment in my immediate locality, and I took the opportunity to put 100 litres through an Eberspächer, a Webasto and a Mikuni diesel heater.
Ironically, we found ourselves being overtaken by events as successive manufacturers gave OEM approvals for HVO use in their products. Eberspächer and Webasto state it can be used in ‘new installations’ but our trials had already demonstrated that it burns cleaner than gas oil (red diesel) leaving noticeably fewer residues. In place of the Mikuni unit, the importers now supply the MX50 range and their own trials support our findings.
HVO subgroup
With this initial emphasis on exploring the use of HVO, it was logical to form a HVO subgroup of the main IWA Sustainable Boating Group, which I chair. We are very fortunate in the range of experience that its members bring to the exercise. John Spencer is managing director of GPS Marine, a company that operates some 13 tugs and twice as many workboats on the River Thames (and Medway) and has the contract for removing the spoil from the Thames Tideway Tunnel and supplying the concrete lining segments in its place.
Not only do GPS Marine’s vessels make use of a range of the engines – largely Listers and Petters – found propelling our boats on the inland waterways (in this case as ancillary power units), but the company also employs Refleks space heaters and the like. While the main propulsion units are way out of our league, it’s comforting to know that alongside the ancillary units, they have put in many thousands of hours of trouble-free running, while dramatically reducing the company’s carbon footprint in a densely populated area.
Domestic appliances
In parallel with John’s experience on the ‘domestic’ front, I’ve had the chance to put 200 litres through my Dickinson Adriatic cooker-cum-heater over the winter and was delighted to find that cleaning out the burner is something that now falls due every five months, rather than every two. The distinction to be made here is that of the two types of diesel-fuelled domestic devices found on inland craft – pressure-jet and gravity-fed pot burner – both are equally happy operating on HVO and both demonstrate a cleaner internal burn with reduced fumes and smoke externally.
That really just leaves a Wallas diesel catalytic hotplate and space heater, which is currently on trial. Again, going on past experience, I don’t anticipate any problems.
Classic engines
We are very fortunate to have experienced ICI organic chemist Tim Noakes in the HVO subgroup, as well as Bernard Hales who has spent a lifetime with Lucas and Delphi working on diesel fuel injection systems and is now retired. That they both own and operate historic narrowboats is something of a bonus.
As an interesting aside, it is worth noting that Bernard was engaged in a large body of work, alongside Bosch and the like, back in the 1990s, examining the impact of the use of first generation FAME biodiesel on diesel engines. Among many other things, they determined that it should not be used in any greater concentration than 5% when added to mineral diesel and yet here we are currently buying B7 fuel (with a 7% concentration), which is soon to be replaced by B10.
So far Tim has carried out a trial using HVO in narrowboat Spey and its Bolinder semi-diesel on a fast run along 18 miles of the Bridgewater Canal, returning on mineral diesel which showed a 20% increase in fuel consumption. Of most significance in Tim’s eyes, was a marked reduction in BCBs (‘Black Crumbly Bits’ and not exactly emission-friendly in any respect) when running on HVO.
Bernard’s 1931 Gardner 5L2 full diesel has run equally satisfactorily, as has a semi-diesel from the same era. In this instance we received the only complaint about the fuel so far, namely that when he was away from the boat, setting a lock in a noisy environment, he could no longer tell whether the engine was still running or not – the exhaust smoke was no more!
Severn trials
The recent trial conducted on the River Severn and the Droitwich Canals by Ortomarine, although largely devised to compare the performance of different types of hybrid drive against a benchmark conventional diesel drive, also included a HVO-fuelled boat skippered by a man of many years’ professional experience with narrowboats. He was amazed by the total lack of smoke and fumes in the bottom of a lock or when navigating a tunnel and by the noticeably quieter running.
There were some trials, now underway, that were unable to take place at the time due to Covid restrictions, including the BMC derivatives and a further foray into classic country to embrace a two-cylinder Bolinder, a National and a Lister HE. In the near future, members of the Historic Narrow Boat Club will be fielding a further selection of classic engines for trial.
We were much encouraged to learn recently that the National Historic Ships Register is reviewing its proposed strategy of propelling some of its collection with electric motors, while leaving the diesel plant in situ, but idle. Facing increasing pressure to reduce emissions from historic vessels, as legislation steadily begins to bite, this seemed like the only way to go… before HVO came to its notice.
Get what you pay for
Hopefully, by the end of the year, the IWA Sustainable Boating Group will have a comprehensive picture of HVO and its place on the inland waterways. If there is one telling observation to take away from our findings so far, it is that although the fuel currently costs about 10p per litre more than gas oil, the additional cost could be viewed as the premium paid out for an insurance policy.
The average boater probably buys around 250 litres of mineral diesel a year, so if this is replaced with HVO the fuel bill will amount to an extra £25. Now compare that with the likely costs incurred when sorting out potential problems relating to first generation FAME biodiesel (none of which attaches to HVO), and it suddenly appears extremely affordable.
above: Gardner-powered Skylark, whose owner commented of
the lack of smoke from HVO.
below: Spey’s Bolinder lining up for a taste of HVO.
below: HVO kept hearth and home glowing throughout last
winter.
