COMMENT | 5
Fuel for thought M Edwin Lampert, Head of Content
“If creating a market as a marine fuel increases hydrogen's value and makes its use uneconomic, a win-win technology becomes a lose-lose alternative”
arine Propulsion is choosing to focus its comment on alternative fuels, and in this issue we look at three of them – hydrogen, methanol and nuclear. But let's start with a fuel not covered in that report: emulsified HFO. We are prompted to do this following a phone call on 30 July with Tuvia Berger, the Israel-based marketing manager of MEC Green Energy. He is an advocate of the benefits of adding water to fuel, which he says will improve combustion because the vaporising water splits the fuel into microdroplets. Mr Berger was responding to a call issued by Marine Propulsion for solutions to what we described as the dilemma of finding a lowcarbon alternative to the choice of LNG or a scrubber+HFO combination that have become the frontrunners to become the low-SOx fuels of choice, before carbon reduction was made a long-term target. Mr Berger argued that emulsified fuel improves fuel consumption, with efficiencies improving in slow-steaming modes, thus reducing carbon emissions. He believes that emulsified fuel offers better efficiency, less wasted energy, less wasted fuel – in short, better all round – and will thus reduce carbon emissions from shipping. Another alternative is hydrogen and a few weeks ago Marine Propulsion described a Scottish ferry scheme that will use wind energy
to produce the hydrogen as a game-changer. The project’s naval architect, Chris Dunn, takes a more cautious approach. “We have a lot of work to do to persuade service users that a hydrogen ferry will be as safe, if not safer, than a traditionally powered vessel,” he said. That’s because people associate it with bombs and airship disasters. Marine Propulsion’s point in telling you this is to lay out some food for thought. Emulsions have been talked about for many years, yet have never caught on. Why? Is it simply because – as Carnival decided after its 2002 experiment – the emulsion is unstable or is it this industry’s natural conservatism? And is hydrogen being over-hyped? If creating a market as a marine fuel increases its value and makes its use uneconomic, a win-win technology becomes a lose-lose alternative. If you are working in this area of engineering, have you modelled this effect? Disruptive technologies like these should be welcomed and explored, but long-term winners and losers are not always obvious. MP The Riviera team will be in attendance throughout this year’s SMM in Hall A3, Stand 410. We’d love to hear your news and feedback on the event, our products and the industry in general, so please stop by for a chat. We look forward to seeing you there.
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Marine Propulsion & Auxiliary Machinery | August/September 2018