Swedish tanker shipping company Stena Bulk plans to test 100 % biofuel on one of its MR tankers in the coming weeks, joining its rivals in trialing biofuel as a solution for decarbonization of the shipping industry.
As informed, the fuel is the MR1-100 bio-fuel oil, produced from used cooking oil and supplied by GoodFuels in Rotterdam, the Netherlands.
It has been bunkered onto the Stena Immortal and will be used to power the main engine in normal operations to test and prove the technical and operational feasibility.
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“By doing this test we want to contribute to push the industry and pave the way towards more sustainable shipping,” says Erik Hånell, President and CEO Stena Bulk.
“We want to be able 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 doesn´t have to interfere with core business. ”
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 the 2nd generation fuel, which are based on waste and do not compete with food production. In this case, the fuel is made from used cooking oil.
The reduction of CO2 by using this particular biofuel is estimated to be around 83%. The fuel also emits significantly lower levels of SOX than regular compliant fuels.
Stena Bulk said that during the trial it expects to cut emissions equaling 690 mt. The figures correspond to a life cycle perspective, i.e. including production and distribution of the fuel.