Page 116 - ΝΑΥΤΙΚΑ ΧΡΟΝΙΚΑ - ΜΑΙΟΣ 2023

GREEN SHIPPING

Mr Panos Koutsourakis talks about the need of alternative fuel adoption.

WE WILL HAVE

A MULTI-FUEL

FUTURE

Regarding which alternative fuel they considered more likely to be widely adopted
by the shipping industry by 2050, the most popular answers in descending order
were biofuels, methanol, ammonia, hydrogen, and nuclear energy. In your view,
what are the advantages and disadvantages of the above fuels?
The survey respondents accurately reflect the predicted uptake of alterna-
tive fuels in maritime. We will have a multi-fuel future with different fuels
finding favour in specific applications, regions and trade routes. Each has
some advantages and most have some challenges, the uptake of each will
be at a different point along the timeline to 2050 and beyond.
Biofuels are of increasing interest to owners for their ability to reduce
carbon emissions on a drop-in basis which makes them flexible for ships
with diverse trading patterns. Tests have shown they can significantly
reduce emissions and offer a short-term means of achieving compliance.
Methanol is also proven as marine fuel, a simple liquid which is relatively
easy to handle and offers carbon reductions, though not their elimination.
Its main drawback is energy content relative to fuel oil but as a liquid fuel,
existing bunkering infrastructure, engines and fuel supply systems could
be converted with relative ease to handle methanol instead of fuel oil.
Ammonia’s principal advantage is its ability to reduce carbon emissions and
because it contains no carbon molecule, to offer zero carbon operations,
providing its feedstock is fully renewable. Its primary drawback is competi-
tion; conventional ammonia is in high demand and green ammonia does not
exist at any scale useful for shipping. Because it is highly toxic, dedicated
handling, bunkering and onboard processes will need to be developed and
these are only likely in newbuilding applications.
Hydrogen, like ammonia, is a fuel of the future in the sense that at present,
its use in marine applications is limited to one or two small pilot projects
and industry evaluations that are assessing its suitability. Hydrogen cre-
by Panos Koutsourakis, ates no carbon emissions when used as a fuel, provided it is produced
VP Global Sustainability, from renewable sources, but a hydrogen economy is still some years away.
ABS

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