Review of Biofuel Effect on Emissions of Various Types of Marine Propulsion and Auxiliary Engines

Theofanis D. Chountalas, Maria Founti and Dimitrios T. Hountalas ()
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Theofanis D. Chountalas: Laboratory of Heterogeneous Mixtures, National Technical University of Athens, 15772 Athens, Greece
Maria Founti: Laboratory of Heterogeneous Mixtures, National Technical University of Athens, 15772 Athens, Greece
Dimitrios T. Hountalas: Internal Combustion Engines Laboratory, National Technical University of Athens, 15772 Athens, Greece

Energies, 2023, vol. 16, issue 12, 1-19

Abstract: The International Maritime Organization aims to reduce the maritime industry’s carbon emissions by 40% in the next two decades and has introduced measures to control CO 2 emissions. These have significantly increased interest regarding biofuels, which can be used immediately on existing vessels, reducing their carbon footprint. The most common variant is B30, a blend of 70% crude oil and 30% biodiesel. Concerns exist for the potential effect on engine performance and NO x emissions. Scientific works on the subject are limited for two-stroke marine engines, while some studies are available for four-stroke ones, usually auxiliaries. To increase information availability on the subject, in this work, we review the results of testing on multiple marine engine types, two-stroke propulsion and four-stroke auxiliary units using B30 and conventional fuels. The effect on emissions and fuel efficiency is examined and cross-referenced with the available literature. A small increase in specific fuel consumption was observed for B30 use that varied with engine type. The increase was on average 1% for two-stroke and 2.5% for four-stroke engines. The effect of B30 on NO x emissions was low but varied between engines. For low-speed two-stroke engines, NO x increase was on average 4% compared to crude oil, and 2.4% for four-stroke auxiliary units, albeit with higher variance. For some four-stroke units, a decrease in emissions was found. All previous results were in line with other published studies. Overall, it was found that while biofuel effect can vary considerably between applications, 30% biodiesel blends can be used with no concerns regarding emissions and fuel efficiency.

Keywords: marine engines; biofuels; NO x emissions; two-stroke; four-stroke; crude oil (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: Q Q0 Q4 Q40 Q41 Q42 Q43 Q47 Q48 Q49 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2023
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

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