Americas News
Ferry Company Could Switch to LNG Despite Love of Diesel
Greg Peterson, Director of Engineering Services at BC Ferry Services Inc (BC Ferries) has said the Canadian west coast ferry operator could switch to liquefied natural gas (LNG) to power its vessels in the future, despite its love of diesel.
"If we can do it safely, if we can do it reliably, and if we can do it affordably, then we will have natural gas powering our vessels in the future," he told a record number of delegates on Friday at GreenTech 2013 in Vancouver.
However Peterson explained that factors which may be attractive to other shipping companies looking to make the switch to LNG, such as fuel cost and environmental compliance, were not as significant for BC ferries.
"What do we currently use as a fuel? There's probably some misconceptions about the fuel that we currently burn, and its diesel. And I love diesel," he said.
At a sulfur level of about 10 parts per million, Peterson said the ultra-low sulfur diesel (ULSD) currently used was already very low in sulfur and "put virtually no sulfur oxides in the local air."
The correlation between sulfur content and particulate matter (PM) meant that emissions of PM are also low.
"For BC Ferries, the benefit [of using LNG] is primarily in the area of NOx reduction, rather than sulfur, and that's something quite different to what shipping faces in other parts of the world," he said.
On the issue of cost, Peterson said that BC Ferries does "not burn the least expensive fuel available," adding that the ULSD was obtained from a single supplier which helped eliminate quality issues and give them a high level of operational reliability.
The Love Affair with Diesel
Highlighting some other reasons behind the "love affair" with diesel, Peterson said the fuel was "available everywhere", "easily bunkered," "easily delivered," and is "easily stored and burned."
The bunkering process was named as the single biggest barrier to LNG adoption, with Peterson saying adoption of any new fuel could not change the large number of optomisations currently within the organisation.
"Fuel is one of the most important aspects of the company's operating philosophy," he said
Looking at the technical feasibility of using LNG, he said that while there were plenty of gas engines available, there is currently a limited number of lean burn engines available that will meet BC Ferries' needs.
Building new LNG ships would be more cost effective than conversion of existing vessels, he said, as it could take "many years to recover the costs," but the in-service lifetime of existing vessels means conversion is something they would need to look at if they were to use LNG.
Other obstacles to vessel conversion included the fact that LNG fuel tanks would have to be twice the size of the equivalent diesel fuel tanks, creating potential space issues, as well as the logistics of taking a vessel out of service for the retrofit - a process which "could take years."
