Biofuel as an alternative shipping fuel : technological, environmental and economic assessment

© Royal Society of Chemistry 2019Fossil derived fuels available for application within the maritime sector have been dominated by heavy fuel oil (HFO), which is conventionally used in low speed (main) engines, and more refined fuels such as marine diesel oil (MDO), which is consumed in fast or medium speed engines. However, increasing fuel costs and regulatory pressure such as the restrictions placed on sulphur content have increased interest in the use of alternative fuels. A number of alternative fuels have been identified and may be viable for use within the maritime sector including straight vegetable oil (SVO) as an alternative to HFO in low speed engines, biodiesel to replace MDO/MGO in low to medium speed engines and bio-liquefied natural gas (bio-LNG) in gas engines using LNG. The potential sources of biomass feedstocks, conversion pathways and technologies are identified. The key parameters limiting their potential application are examined, in particular, availability, technological development, technical integration, and operational consequences. A proposed solution to overcome these limitations is recommended. The effective implementation of these strategies will enable the more widespread use of biofuels in marine applications, significantly reducing emissions from ships and improving global air quality and also protecting the ecological environment.Peer reviewe

Inferential measurement and control of ballast water treatment system

As a result of interaction with the surrounding environment, shipping has become one of the vectors of bio-invasion across the globe. Ballast water is one of the means of bio-invasion from shipping through which microorganisms break through natural barriers and establish in a new location. Shipboard treatment systems are predominately considered as mitigating measures for bio-invasion via a ballast water system. Currently shipboard performance monitoring of ballast water treatment systems, and thus assessment of discharge quality of ballast water as required by the Convention, depends on off-line laboratory assays with long delay analysis. Lack of online measurement sensors to assess the viability of microorganisms after treatment has made monitoring and thus control of ballast water treatment systems difficult. In this study, a methodology was developed, through a mathematical algorithm, to provide an inferential model-based measurement system in order to monitor and thus control non-observable ballast water systems. In the developed inferential measurement the primary output of the treatment system is inferred by using easy to measure secondary output variables and a model relating these two outputs. Data-driven modeling techniques, including Artificial Neural Networks (ANN), were used to develop an estimator for the small scale UV treatment system based on the data obtained from conducted experiments. The results from ANN showed more accuracy in term of Root Mean Squared Error (RMSE) and Linear Correlation Coefficient (LCC) when compared to the other techniques. The same methodology was implemented to a larger scale treatment system comprising micro-filter and UV reactor. A software-based inferential measurement for online monitoring of the treatment system was then developed. Following monitoring, inferential control of the treatment setup was also accomplished using direct inverse control strategy. A software-based “Decision Making Tool” consisted of two intelligent inverse models, which were used to control treatment flow rate and maintain the effective average UV dose. The results from this study showed that software-based estimation of treatment technologies can provide online measurement and control for ballast water system.EThOS - Electronic Theses Online ServiceEuropean funded project “BaWaPla”GBUnited Kingdo

Attributional life cycle assessment of biofuels for shipping: addressing alternative geographical locations and cultivation Systems

Crown Copyright © 2019 Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.The purpose of this study is to evaluate a life cycle assessment of straight vegetable oil (SVO) and biodiesel addressing alternative upstream pathways. The pathways are SVO and biodiesel produced in the United Kingdom (UK) using European rapeseed and also, SVO and biodiesel produced in the UK using soybean grain and soybean oil imported from Argentina. Four environmental impact categories have been assessed using the SimaPro (ReCiPe life cycle impact assessment) method: this includes global warming potential (GWP); acidification; eutrophication and particulate matter. Rapeseed based biofuel had the lowest emission impact in terms of GHG emissions. Significant greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions can result from land use change due to the expansion and cultivation of soybean in Argentina. When land use change is not considered, the soy based biofuel system has the lowest GHG impact with more than 70% GHG emission reduction. The GHG emission at cultivation stage far outweighs the impacts of the other life-cycle stages irrespective of the feedstock used for the biofuel production systems. The use of fertilizers and associated soil emissions are the main contributors. The environmental impacts of biofuel can be reduced by avoiding land use change, improving soil management practices and yield, and also optimizing transportation routes. Effective implementation of options for biofuels production were explored to improve sustainability in shipping.Peer reviewe

The Use of New Media by Political Parties in the 2008 National Election

The overall purpose of this research project has been to undertake an empirical, exploratory study into how political parties in New Zealand make use of ICTs in and around the 2008 national election campaign, and their implications. The following research questions have been explored: How, in what form, and to what extent did political parties in New Zealand make use of ICTs during the 2008 national election? How can the use, and non-use, of ICTs be understood and explained? What are the implications of the uptake and use of ICTs by New Zealand political parties for their external relationships with voters? What recommendations can be made regarding the use of ICTs by New Zealand political parties for election campaigning

Evaluation of environmental performance indices for ships

Pollution from ships is a significant environmental concern. Maritime environmental legislation has tightened in recent years since the introduction of the MARPOL 73/78 regulations, however there is often a significant time gap between when the regulations are adopted and when they legally enter force. The emergence of private voluntary environmental initiatives has occurred in an attempt to bridge this gap, reduce environmental impacts, and raise the environmental profile of ships. However, there are inconsistencies in the methodologies used to define ship performance, and the number and diversity of initiatives available for use can cause confusion, hindering progress towards greater sustainability. A critical analysis of existing environmental initiatives in the shipping industry has been conducted, challenging the applicability, scope, and environmental ambition of the methodologies adopted. The analysis highlights significant limitations of initiatives with regards to transparency, assessment rationale and environmental scope, and flexibility to be ship specific. Many show bias towards certain environmental indicators, while others have limited ambition. This paper challenges the effectiveness of existing environmental initiatives used in the shipping sector to promote environmental improvements beyond current regulatory requirements, and proposes an objective, quantifiable approach to assessing vessel environmental performance.</p

Holistic energy mapping methodology for reduced fuel consumption and emissions

There are increasing concerns and regulations regarding the emission of pollutants from shipping. Therefore, regulations such as the Ship Energy Efficiency Management Plan (SEEMP) and Energy Efficiency Design Index (EEDI) have been made mandatory to cope with climate change concerns. To put these efforts into practice, the Energy Efficiency Operational Indicator (EEOI) was introduced in 2009 to account for the fuel consumption, distance travelled by the vessel and cargo mass. However, it is stated that these do not apply to ships that are not engaged in transport work such as research vessels and tugboats. These short sea shipping vessels have been neglected under current indexes and it is not possible for their properties to be quantified since current indices are for vessels carrying loads. The numbers of these specialised vessels are increasing in local waters, and are closer to coastal communities where concerns and impact from these pollutants would be more direct. In the IMO greenhouse gas study, options for improving energy efficiency in terms of design includes the concept, design speed and capability, hull and superstructure, power and propulsion whilst the principle of energy efficiency in terms of operation includes fleet management, logistics and incentives, voyage optimisation and energy management. A reliable energy flow breakdown architecture and diagnostics for these smaller vessels is important and will contribute to an understanding of the energy production, distribution and consumption on-board. This feeds into the IMO plan to encourage energy management. A systematic approach consisting of five distinct stages is recommended to accomplish a holistic approach for energy efficiency management. This includes understanding of energy flow breakdown architecture, vessel survey to understand operation and conduct, review existing sensors and new sensor installation, sensor communication and data processing, and finally data analysis. These stages are addressed in this paper to provide an overall understanding of a robust energy efficiency audit procedure and sensor matrix. This includes unifying the existing on-board sensors with the proposed new sensors for additional data collection where primary parameters are not readily available. Inferred secondary parameter calculations are also applied where direct data collection is not possible. This will allow information from the vessel to be transmitted to a common platform to enable detailed data analysis. The aim of this work is to improve energy management and monitoring, which leads to understanding and managing consumption of energy. A case study of this methodology has been carried out on the Princess Royal, a Newcastle University research vessel. Recommendations for further testing and optimisation of this methodology will be applied to tugboats and Offshore Supply Vessels (OSV)

The measurement of the drag characteristics of tin-free self-polishing co-polymers and fouling release coatings using a rotor apparatus

An experimental study was carried out to compare the drag characteristics of a tin-free self-polishing co-polymer (SPC) and a foul release coating. Rotor measurements were carried out using different cylinders coated with both paint types. The experiments showed that the frictional resistance for the foul release test cylinders was lower than for the tin-free SPC cylinders. The drag characteristics were related to the roughness parameters of the tested surfaces measured with an optical measurement system. The measurements indicated that the texture of the foul release surface, was significantly different from SPC systems. The findings show that the drag of a foul release coating will only correlate with a characteristic roughness measure that takes both the amplitude and the texture of the surface into account, and that is calculated at bandwidth parameters which depend on the degree of roughness

Attributional life cycle assessment of biofuels for shipping: addressing alternative geographical locations and cultivation systems

The purpose of this study is to evaluate a life cycle assessment of straight vegetable oil (SVO) and biodiesel addressing alternative upstream pathways. The pathways are SVO and biodiesel produced in the United Kingdom (UK) using European rapeseed and also, SVO and biodiesel produced in the UK using soybean grain and soybean oil imported from Argentina. Four environmental impact categories have been assessed using the SimaPro (ReCiPe life-cycle impact assessment) method: this includes global warming potential (GWP); acidification; eutrophication and particulate matter. Rapeseed based biofuel had the lowest emission impact in terms of GHG emissions. Significant greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions can result from land use change due to the expansion and cultivation of soybean in Argentina. When land use change is not considered, the soy based biofuel system has the lowest GHG impact with more than 70% GHG emission reduction. The GHG emission at cultivation stage far outweighs the impacts of the other life-cycle stages irrespective of the feedstock used for the biofuel production systems. The use of fertilizers and associated soil emissions are the main contributors. The environmental impacts of biofuel can be reduced by avoiding land use change, improving soil management practices and yield, and also optimizing transportation routes. Effective implementation of options for biofuels production were explored to improve sustainability in shipping.</p

Capturing and analysing real-time data from TUGS

Holistic energy management in the shipping industry involves reliable data collection, systematic processing and smart analysis. The era of digitisation allows sensor technology to be used on-board vessels, converting different forms of signal into a digital format that can be exported conveniently for further processing. Appropriate sensor selection is important to ensure continuous data collection when vessels sail through harsh conditions. However, without proper processing, this leads to the collection of big data sets but without resulting useful intelligence that benefits the industry. The adoption of digital and computer technology, allows the next phase of fast data processing. This contributes to the growing area of big data analysis, which is now a problem for many technological sectors, including the maritime industry. Enormous databases are often stored without clear goals or suitable uses. Processing of data requires engineering knowledge to ensure suitable filters are applied to raw data. This systematic processing of data leads to transparency in real time data display and contributes to predictive analysis. In addition, the generation of series of raw data when coupled with other external data such as weather information provides a rich database that reflects the true scenario of the vessel. Subsequent processing will then provide improved decision making tools for optimal operations. These advances open the door for different market analyses and the generation of new knowledge. This paper highlights the crucial steps needed and the challenges of sensor installation to obtain accurate data, followed by pre and post processing of data to generate knowledge. With this, big data can now provide information and reveal hidden patterns and trends regarding vessel operations, machinery diagnostics and energy efficient fleet management. A case study was carried out on a tug boat that operates in the North Sea, firstly to demonstrate confidence in the raw data collected and secondly to demonstrate the systematic filtration, aggregation and display of useful information.</p