Steeper Energy, the Port of Frederikshavn and Aalborg University have partnered to build what they say is the world’s first biomass-based plant to produce sulfur-free marine fuel from wood.
The plant will be located at the Port of Frederikshavn in Denmark and, according to port CEO Mikkel Seedorf Sшrensen.
The sulfur-free fuel will help fleet operators meet environmental rules that go into effect in 2015, the partners say. Under the International Maritime Organization (IMO) regulations, ships in some Emissions Control Areas (ECAs) must cut their fuel sulfur content from 1 percent to 0.1 percent.
The partners say the new fuel will be a drop-in fuel and the size of the plant is initially set at around 50,000 to 100,000 tons of fuel annually. To produce this, some two to three times as much wood will be sourced.
Aalborg University will research mixing in other locally sourced feedstocks.
The IMO sulfur rules will likely drive some shipping companies out of business and force others to close routes in 2015, Niels Smedegaard, chief executive of Danish shipping firm DFDS, tells Reuters.
Source: Environmental Leader