• 10 Dec 2014

Thorsten Hesse, Manager Sales and Supply, says that in the future it will look to supply LNG bunkers

TOTAL Marine Fuels (TMF) in Germany today announced in an emailed statement it is offering new marine fuel products to help vessel owners comply with revised Emissions Control Area (ECA) rules coming into force next year.

Since the beginning of November TMF says it has been offering a new quality DMA gasoil grade that has a maximum density of 0.890 and a maximum sulfur content of 0.10 percent.

The new product is being offered in addition to the traditional DMA gasoil grade with a maximum density of 0.860 and a maximum sulfur content of 0.10 percent, which the supplier says it has been supplying for several years from its bunker installation inside the Kiel-Canal.

"Thorsten Hesse, Manager Sales and Supply is confident that this grade will be of interest to many of our customers having to switch from the LS IFO when the new sulfur regulations come into force at the start of 2015. Both qualities can be delivered ex-pipe from 15 t up to a few hundred tons," the company said.

In the future, TMF in Germany will also look to supply liquified LNG bunkers as well as other alternative fuels

TMF said it also plans to offer a low sulfur heavy fuel which is suitable for ships equipped with scrubbers, in response to what it said was an increasing use of the technology, especially in the area of Brunsbüttel.

"The quality offered will include both IFO 180 and IFO 380 with a consistent sulfur content of about 1.3%, an essential consideration in the optimization of the scrubber design," said TMF.

"Furthermore the flexibility of the Brunsbüttel facility permits Total Marine Fuels to offer tailor-made solutions from 1.0% to 3.5% sulfur. All these ISO 8217 (E2010) products can be supplied by our barges in the ports of Hamburg, Stade, Brunsbüttel and up to Kiel.

"Finally for vessels using high sulfur fuel with abatement technology or navigating outside the ECA regions the high sulfur grades historically supplied will continue to be available."

Hesse also confirmed that in the future, TMF in Germany will also look to supply liquified natural gas (LNG) bunkers as well as other alternative fuels.

As Ship & Bunker has previous detailed, scrubbers designed to be used with lower sulfur fuels use less energy than scrubbers designed to work with high sulfur fuels.

Industry Insight: Wärtsilä Explains the Impact of Bunker Sulfer Content on Scrubber Performance

Wednesday April 30, 2014

Sigurd Jenssen says that scrubber operators can save energy by enforcing their own personal sulfur limit.

Update: Corrected Robin Meech prediction to 6,000 scrubbers by 2025.

In the coming months and years the maximum permissible level of sulfur in marine fuel is set to drop not only within Emissions Control Areas (ECAs), but as whole, globally.

Using scrubbers to clean vessels' exhaust gases is one of the options available to operators who must, in one way or another, achieve compliance with the new rules.

While scrubbing technology itself isn't particularly new, its use on-board vessels is, so ship owners naturally have a lot of questions about how the technology can help with tightening environmental regulations.

One question we've been asked that seems of particular interest is whether operators using scrubbers still need to limit the sulfur content of the bunkers they use in order to achieve compliance, or can scrubbers achieve the appropriate level of compliance using any ISO 8217 specification fuel?

Ship & Bunker talked to Sigurd Jenssen, Director, Exhaust Gas Cleaning at Wärtsilä Ship Power, to get a better understanding on the matter.

Sulfur Content

Our standard offering is a scrubbing performance that guarantees compliance with the new ECA rules Sigurd Jenssen, Director, Exhaust Gas Cleaning, Wärtsilä Ship Power

"In terms of technology and performance the fuel Sulfur content is not a critical factor, for our designs," said Jenssen.

"Our standard offering is a scrubbing performance that guarantees compliance with the new Emissions Control Area (ECA) rules from 2015 (0.10 percent sulfur), based on a fuel of maximum 3.5 percent sulfur. But we have installations in service that scrub from 4.5 percent down to 0.10 percent equivalency, and have tested even higher concentrations in our test facility.

"The key is to use the right amount of wash water, and distribute it correctly.

"It is possible to offer a lower scrubbing efficiency, but we are of the opinion that it is better to be on the safe side, given that there is some uncertainty on what the bunker suppliers will be offering."

Energy Savings

The energy required to run an open-loop scrubber is typically 2-3 percent of the engine power Sigurd Jenssen, Director, Exhaust Gas Cleaning, Wärtsilä Ship Power

Scrubbing from 4.5 percent to 0.10 percent equivalency requires more energy than scrubbing bunkers with a lower sulfur content, and Jenssen explained that scrubber operators can save energy by enforcing their own personal sulfur limit.

"There are some savings to be had if designing for a lower sulfur content, primarily on OPEX, and we can of course design for that. It is really up to the customer and their expectations of the future fuel market," he said.

"On some installations we have indeed designed for a lower maximum sulfur content of 2.5 percent. But it is important to make this decision upfront, as it would be costly to upgrade to accommodate a higher sulfur content at a later stage."

By designing for a 2.5 percent sulfur, Jenssen said an operator could expect savings from the scrubber system of around 15 to 20 percent compared to a design for 3.5 percent sulfur fuel.

"The energy required to run an open-loop scrubber is typically 2-3 percent of the engine power, so you save maybe 0.4 percent to 0.5 percent of the total energy consumption," he added.

Robin Meech recently predicted that by 2025 there will be about 6,000 scrubbers will be in operation. Source: shipandbunker.com