The production of bunker fuel - used to power the world's shipping fleet - may be about to undergo major change.
Tests are due to be completed in Q2 this year of an innovative oil-water emulsion bunker fuel created using an additive known as Multiphase Superfine Atomised Residue (MSAR®) - the invention of specialist chemicals firm Quadrise Fuels International.
Maersk tanker, the Nordby Maersk Image: Maersk |
Sold under licence by UK-based chemicals company AkzoNobel, which helped developed the MSAR technology, the additive is used with Heavy Fuel Oils - the heaviest oil elements found at the bottom of a crude barrel.
HFOs are refined to produce marine bunker fuel and, according to Quadrise, when MSAR is added, the property of the oil changes dramatically, giving it greater liquidity, thus making it easier to pump and more easily combustible.
As well as reduincg fuel NOx emissions by a claimed 20%, MSAR emulsion fuels produce no residual carbon and, therefore, no soot particulates. The additive also reduces refining costs by replacing additional refining chemicals with as much as 30% more water. Quadrise's MSAR fuels are now being evaluated for large-scale marine use, with Danish cargo shipping line Maersk testing the product.
With marine testing due to be completed at later this year, Quadrise is also signing deals with with thermal power and steam generation companies around the world - the other main users of HFO products. Meanwhile production is set to come onstream in the near future using 6,000b/d AzkoNobel-funded MSAR units, with new MSAR refinery-based projects underway in Mexico and Saudi Arabia.