Industry Insight: Understanding Quadrise's MSAR Emulsion Fuel & Scrubbers

Quadrise say using its MSAR fuel in conjunction with scrubbers will be the least expensive way to comply with sulfur regulations.

Exhaust gas cleaning technology is tipped to play an important role in sulfur regulation compliance in the coming years.

Proponents of the technology argue that the cost of buying and installing a scrubber will be offset by then being able to burn less expensive, higher sulfur fuel oil, resulting in an overall total cost of compliance which is less than simply paying for more expensive compliant fuel.

One company aiming to capitalise on this proposition even further is Quadrise Fuels Limited (Quadrise) who have developed an emulsion fuel known as MSAR that it plans to sell at a discount to regular 380 cSt bunkers.

This, it says, will make it the least expensive way to comply with sulfur regulations.

Quadrise is currently in a joint development programme with partners including Maersk and MAN Turbo and Diesel. So while at this stage it is tight-lipped on many of the finer details of the product, Ship & Bunker has analysed the available information to answer a number of questions which our readers have asked us about MSAR.

What is MSAR?

MSAR, or Multi-phase, Superfine, Atomised Residue, is a refined petroleum residue based emulsion fuel designed to be a direct substitute for heavy fuel oil.

It is a water continuous, or "oil in water", emulsion, where heavy hydrocarbon particles 5 to 10 microns in size are suspended in water, with a ratio of about 70 percent oil to 30 percent water.

The company says MSAR is not a synthetic fuel, and it bears no resemblance to Orimulsion, an emulsion fuel manufactured by PDVSA directly from heavy Orinoco crude. That product has a high sulfur content, an aspect which is particularly important to understand for any product intended to be used in conjunction with scrubbers.

Understanding Scrubbers

As Ship & Bunker has previously discussed, while a scrubber can be set up to work with fuels of any and all sulfur content levels, in practice they are designed to work with fuels not exceeding a specific, pre-set maximum sulfur limit. This limit can not easily be changed after the scrubber has been installed.

The higher the limit, the more work the scrubber needs to do, which translates into more energy being used. There is therefore an incentive to set this limit as low as reasonably possible as to not unnecessarily waste energy, but also high enough as to not overly restrict the bunkers that can be used in conjunction with the scrubber.

For example, if the vessel is operating in an area of the world where the sulfur content of IFO380 is typically between 2.4 and 2.8 percent, then setting the scrubber system to require a fuel with maximum 2.4 percent sulfur content could make buying compatible bunkers more problematic than setting it to 2.8 percent.

The sulfur content of MSAR is therefore critical to its ability to be useful if being used in conjunction with a scrubber for sulfur regulation compliance.

What is the Sulfur Content of MSAR?

To understand the sulfur content of MSAR, it is important to appreciate that MSAR is fundamentally a production process, not a single finished product with a single specification. As such the sulfur content of MSAR is dependent on the sulfur content of the crude oil processed to produce the emulsion.

In fact Quadrise says that, in theory at least, the sulfur content could be customised depending on the particular requirement.

At present few vessels are using scrubbing technology, so it is difficult to predict at this stage what a typical maximum sulfur limit for a scrubber installation will be, and therefore what sulfur level MSAR needs to achieve in order to be commercially useful.

What we do know is that the global sufur cap is currently set at 3.5 percent, so it is reasonable to think that a scrubber would not need to have its limit set higher than this as we know a large volume of fuel can be produced to this specification. Some owners may of course choose to set their limit lower, and closer to the current global sulfur average for HSFO of about 2.6 percent.

Even though we do not know the sulfur content of the MSAR currently being produced for use in sea trials, the company has indicated it will be relatively straight forward for it to meet a 3.5 percent sulfur limit for any future commercial product.

Importantly, that would be 3.5 percent for the hydrocarbon content of the emulsion, not a product average including the water content.

How Much Does MSAR Cost?

Pricing is one of the major factors for any compliance solution, and Quadrise says it plans to sell MSAR at a discount to HFO, although by how much has not yet been revealed.

Again, that pricing would be for the hydrocarbon content, with the company being clear it is not going to be charging people for water.

Overall, the company sees MSAR as being most attractive once the global sulfur limit drops to 0.50 percent, which pending the outcome of a review will happen either in 2020 or 2025, and says that in combination with a scrubber it will offer the lowest cost of compliance both outside, and inside Emissions Control Areas (ECAs).

Quadrise says MSAR also produces lower black soot emissions and 20 percent less NOx compared to traditional HFO, something that may well be a factor in future emissions regulations.

Availability is perhaps the biggest unknown for MSAR, in terms of exactly where, when, and how much of this product will be available will be available, although Quadrise has said the first commercial production of MSAR should be feasible in 2015.