Wood based biofuel testing success

The fuel supplied by Finnish UPM Biofuels is apparently the first ever biofuel derived from wood residue to be used in a marine fleet.

Sari Mannonen, Head of UPM Biofuels, said: “We are delighted to collaborate with GoodFuels, Boskalis and Wärtsilä on this initiative. Our renewable UPM BioVerno diesel is a great product for marine use – it is a sustainable and competitive fuel with several advantages. Its raw material is wood-based residue, and it reduces both greenhouse gas and exhaust emissions significantly.”

The Boskalis vessel EDAX, a 1696 deadweight tonne (DWT) cutter suction dredger, used the fuel in bio/fossil blends going up to 50% as it worked on phase one of the Marker Wadden project in the first half of 2016. This resulted in a CO2 saving of 600Mt over the operating period.

This €33m project includes the construction of an island with underwater landscaping to restore the Markermeer Lake’s delicate ecosystem.

The fuel testing initiative marks another landmark development for the marine biofuels consortium that was announced in October last year by GoodFuels Marine, Boskalis and Wärtsilä. It’s part of the two-year pilot programme to accelerate the development of truly sustainable, scalable and affordable marine biofuels.

Sustainable marine biofuels offer ship operators a way to reduce a vessel’s CO2 emissions by 80-90%. They eliminate SOx emissions, cut NOx emissions by up to 10% and reduce particulate matter (PM) expelled in a ship’s exhaust plume by 50%.

Current forecasts predict that marine biofuels could make up 5 to 10% of the marine fuel mix by 2030, significantly contributing towards the reduction of the shipping industry’s carbon footprint.