TFG Marine Announces Results of d'Amico Group Biofuel Trial

The vessel achieved a 4.3% reduction in CO2 emissions per tonne of fuel. Image Credit: d'Amico Group

Bunker supplier TFG Marine has announced the results of a trial of biofuel bunkers it supplied to a d'Amico Group product tanker.

The firm launched the trials of a 30% biofuel blend on board the M/T Cielo di Rotterdam in June 2021, with the vessel running the fuel from June 19 to July 6. After the completion of the tests, d'Amico has now certified all of its LR1 vessels to operate with the B30 blend, TFG said in an emailed statement on Tuesday.

The vessel achieved a 4.3% reduction in CO2 emissions per tonne of fuel without affecting its compliance with Tier II NOx regulations.

D'Amico Group now intends to try out B40 and B50 biofuel blends on board its ships later this year.

"While there are currently a lot constraints about the green fuel of the future in terms of availability and scale up, the main two regulatory body EU and IMO has not yet lined up the strategy to account for GHG emissions and few technologies to burn the green fuel of the future are still under development, we have the possibility to give  an immediate and  practical contribution to the reduction of CO2 footprint using the so called "drop in" solutions," Cesare D'Api, deputy technical director at d'Amico Group, said in the statement.

"The biofuel blends in this respect have the potentiality to comply with forthcoming EU FUEL regulation and to bridge the gap to 2050 as a "Hybrid" low carbon fuel provided availability and incentives to uptake it worldwide.

"Our joint industry project has demonstrated that using the lifecycle analysis, the saving of CO2 is relevant with a good effect also on the short-term measures adopted by the IMO.

"NOx emissions are not an issue, handling and management are easier.  Our LR1 fleet is now ready and certified permanently to burn B30."