GoodFuels in Rotterdam has supplied MR tanker Stena Immortal with a 250-tonne stem of MR1-100, a 100% biofuel produced from cooking oil. The tanker will burn the biofuel exclusively over the next few weeks as part of Stena’s greenhouse gas development programme
The biofuel supplied by Goodfuels will be the only fuel burnt in the main engine of the 2016-built, 49,600-dwt MR2 tanker for the next few weeks. The main engine is a low-speed electronically controlled eco MAN Energy Solutions 6S50MEB9.3 engine producing 10,680 kW at 117 rpm, according to VesselsValue. The fuel is 100% waste cooking oil and unlike some other biofuels, is not produced from biomass.
“By doing this test we want to contribute to pushing the industry and paving the way towards more sustainable shipping,” said Stena Bulk president and chief executive Erik Hånell, “We want to offer our customers additional options with less environmental impact in the future and by conducting the trial in normal operations we want to show that being sustainable does not have to interfere with core business”, he continued.
Biofuels are compatible with regular fuels but produced from biomass or biowaste instead of fossil oil. While there are many kinds of biofuel, Stena Bulk is only using second-generation fuel, meaning biofuels based on waste that do not compete with food production. In this case the fuel is made from used cooking oil.
According to Stena Bulk, CO2 is reduced by around 83% using this particular biofuel. This figure is from a lifecycle perspective and includes production and distribution of the fuel. Apart from contributing to a large reduction in greenhouse gas emissions, the fuel also emits significantly lower levels of SOx than regular compliant fuels.
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