Industry Insight: ExxonMobil Discusses Real World Use of HDME 50

HDME 50 (c) with IFO380 (r) and a 0.50% MGO (l) for comparison

Since its July launch earlier this year, ExxonMobil says its new Premium Heavy Distillate Marine ECA 50 (HDME 50) fuel has attracted significant global interest.

Described by the oil major as a "new category" of marine fuel, and no less than a "game changer" by others, HDME 50 promises compliance with the 0.10 percent sulfur cap that takes effect in Emissions Control Areas (ECAs) from January 1, 2015, but in a product that handles onboard like HFO.

Iain White, field marketing manager at ExxonMobil Marine Fuels & Lubricants, has previously told Ship & Bunker that this brings a number of benefits, including a reduced risk of thermal shock that can occur when switching between a heated fuel oil and an ambient temperature distillate.

Increased protection from the product's higher viscosity and greater lubricity, and less volatility were also on White's list of HDME 50's advantages.

Pricing is one area that will ultimately determine how successful HDME 50 will be, and ExxonMobil has so far only been willing to say it is priced "competitive to MGO".

Nevertheless, last month, Veritas Petroleum Services (VPS) said that following its testing, it determined that HDME 50 was "likely to be a good fuel."

So far so good then.

The question now, as Charlotte Røjgaard, Group Technical Director, VPS, has noted, is that as the product is so new it remains to be seen how HDME 50 performs in the "real world".

That is, how does it act in service? How is it going to act when you start mixing it during fuel changeovers?

Ship & Bunker once again spoke to Iain White to better understand this next chapter in the HDME story.

Best Practice

"The product itself is a clean product. It does need storing in a heated tank, and like any fuel used onboard, you need good housekeeping practices," said White.

"It is always recommended to keep the fuel mix to a minimum. When you store it in a tank beforehand, make sure it's a clean tank."

"It is fundamentally good practice to not mix fuel as when you mix any two fuels together there is always the potential for issues."

Indeed, earlier this year at the Connecticut Maritime Association (CMA)'s Shipping 2014 annual conference, Steve Bee, Global Business Director, Intertek (Lintec) ShipCare Services, explained how mixing two bunker cargos that are perfectly within ISO 8217 specification can lead to unusable fuel.

Even though the potential for problems will always exist, White noted that operators can always run a compatibility test with whatever fuel they have onboard by sending off samples to their preferred testing agency to determine if there are any issues ahead of time.

White also noted that as fuel switching has been less common in recent times, the ECA rules bring the challenge of training crew with fuel switching best practice.

"30 years ago we were changing fuels going in and out of every port, so it was routine practice," said White.

"For many years we've been working on a single fuel, so from our experience fuel switching is something that, currently, is not well understood. And that's something operators will have to do going in and out of ECAs."

White recently told Ship and Bunker it was reviewing other refineries where HDME 50 could be produced, and that "there will be announcements in the future."