Decarbonisation Technology - May 2023 Issue

renewable feedstock on the RED II Annex 9A list.

Localised blending solution Quadrise’s blend-on-board system offers a novel solution for the marine sector by miniaturising blending technology on-board a marine vessel. This allows the production of either MSAR or bioMSAR directly from bunkered HFO, which can subsequently be burned in the main or auxiliary engines, delivering similar efficiency benefits and emission reduction as residue-based OIW emulsion fuels. This system can also be deployed at power plants and industrial sites to emulsify storage HFO, thus enabling a blending pathway to incorporate renewable biocomponents such as waste-based glycerine or other biofuels (such as sugars from biomass) to reduce CO2 emissions. Emulsion fuels experience History has proven that OIW emulsion fuels are an effective alternative to HFO. The first-generation emulsion fuel, Orimulsion, was sourced from high-sulphur bitumen in Venezuela. More than 60 million tonnes (mt) was successfully burnt for power and industrial application in Guatemala, Canada, and Japan, among others. The learnings from the creation and burning of Orimulsion have carried forward to Quadrise and its emulsion fuels, which exhibit longer stability and offer greater efficiency and emission reduction benefits than their predecessor, thereby providing a genuine transition pathway to decarbonise HFO use. In the power sector, MSAR was successfully burnt at Lietvos Elektrine’s 1,800 MW power plant in Lithuania and in a 340 MW boiler at Karlshamn power plant in Sweden. In the marine sector, a comprehensive two-stroke programme on MAN and Wärtsilä engines led to a seaborne commercial trial on Maersk’s Seago Istanbul, which burnt more than 7,000 mt of MSAR and attained an interim letter of no objection (LONO) from Wärtsilä on a large 69 MW two-stroke engine. Following completion of formulation testing in 2021, Quadrise has demonstrated bioMSAR performance in a high-speed four-stroke Cummins diesel test engine in collaboration with Aquafuel Research Limited, proving the fuel is

Figure 3 Clean combustion of MSAR

viable as a diesel engine fuel. By advancing the injection timing in the engine and increasing inlet air temperature, engine efficiency and NOx emission reductions can be improved even further. Pilot testing has recently been carried out by Wärtsilä Services in Switzerland as one of the precursors to a planned commercial-scale vessel trial with Mediterranean Shipping Company (MSC) Ship Management on the MSC Leandra, a 50,000 DWT container ship. The findings from optical combustion and engine wear testing allow Quadrise to proceed to hazard identification and operability studies, also involving the Class Society, to assess feasibility and safe operability prior to use on a Wärtsilä two-stroke engine. Quadrise plans to supply its emulsion fuels to the MSC Leandra over a two-test regime for each fuel, initially a 1,000 mt proof-of-concept test followed by a 25,000 mt operational test. Validated performance of the fuel will be followed by a commercial supply. Quadrise is conducting an industrial-scale trial for a Moroccan client, and following successful completion of the trial, discussions will commence on a commercial supply agreement. In Utah, it is holding commercial discussions for an upstream opportunity to emulsify heavy sweet oil directly pumped from the ground for end consumption in the power or marine sectors as a lower carbon fuel. Opportunities in marine sector The shipping industry accounts for around 3% of the world’s GHG emissions; unabated, this