They will need to reduce fleet emissions through fuel monitoring and benchmarking to meet increasingly stringent regional and global environmental regulations, participants told Riviera Maritime Media. Fuel Monitoring: Connecting to Compliance and Fuel Savings online seminar.
This event, sponsored by FuelTrax, Innospec and Viswa Group, was held on May 26, 2022 during Riviera Asian Maritime Webinar Week.
The expert panel consisted of Ganesh Natarajan, Head of Business Development at Viswa Group, John Donovan, Vice President of Operations at FuelTrax, Øyvind Stordal, Head of Data and Performance Management at Wilhelmsen Ship Management, and Martin, Innospec Sales and Marketing Manager for Marine and Fuels. To chew.
Mr Stordal explained why fuel monitoring and emissions management will become more important for shipowners and operators as environmental regulations are enforced.
He said the upcoming IMO Carbon Intensity Indicator (CII) and the European Union Emissions Trading Scheme (EU ETS) will impact shipping costs and incentivize owners to reduce their emissions.
“Shipowners need to be prepared for new regulations,” Mr Stordal said. “There could be a huge financial impact on shipping as a whole.”
The CII is expected to start impacting shipowners’ operations in 2023, encouraging them to reduce CO2 emissions.
The EU ETS is expected to come into force in January 2024 for ships over 5,000 gross tons. “Entities will have to buy the right to emit CO2 in EU waters,” said Stordal.
Discussions this month in the European Parliament have changed the rules regarding when the ETS will affect shipping.
“The EU ETS has been delayed for a year, but there will be no longer a transition period, with 100% of emissions covered from day one,” Stordal said.
Smaller ships will also be affected by this regulation, from 2028 all ships from 400 to 5,000 gt will also be included in the EU ETS. In addition, emissions of nitrogen oxides and methane will be included in the trading system.
Shipowners, operators and managers will need to take action to reduce fuel consumption and emissions by involving crews and monitoring performance.
Wilhelmsen has implemented an active performance and compliance monitoring system for its shipping clients to manage and plan their operations as regulations come into effect.
Mr. Donovan presented the benefits of electronic fuel monitoring on ships using independent sensors and communication networks.
FuelTrax has been installed on 720 vessels, primarily those supporting the offshore oil and gas sector where energy charter companies are keen to monitor fuel consumption and bunkering.
“Charters want standardized sensor sets for equalized data across fleets,” Donovan said. “They want data from stabilized Coriolis mass flow sensors for electronic fuel management with auditable accuracy independent of other ship systems.”
This way, data is not derived from crew readings in noon reports or unqualified sensors.
FuelTrax measures engine consumption, tank levels and fuel transfers. Data on the vessel’s position and speed comes from the global navigation satellite system, specifically US-backed GPS, which Donovan said was more accurate than the Automatic Identification System (AIS). .
Vessel information is transmitted in real time via two-way L-band communications, including Iridium satellites, to the FuelNet web portal. Data is sent encrypted at one minute resolution with remote calibration and automatic software updates.
FuelNet is a cloud-based portal that tracks assets in real time with automatic consumption reports and operational alerts.
For offshore support vessels, installing FuelTrax can result in savings of 19% as it observes fuel consumption on various operations, including during transits, when vessels are on standby or operated with dynamic positioning.
Mr. Natarajan explained how benchmarking of lubricating oils and fuels can save shipowners and operators money. Viswa Group has developed methodologies using algorithms to calculate the quality of lubricating oil and its potential effect on ship engines.
“We designed the algorithm with input from science, lab tests, and instrument results,” he explained. “This algorithm converts qualitative data into quantitative data for a particular oil versus another.”
Shipowners can make tangible savings by comparing lubricants. Natarajan said owners could save more than US$700 million by selecting a more efficient lubricating oil with better performance qualities to avoid unscheduled maintenance and extend overhauls.
“For this case, the savings were calculated based on the technical specifications of a vessel with a 10 MW main engine and four 750 kW auxiliary engines,” Natarajan said.
The calculated total annual tangible savings would be US$14,680 per vessel. “For a fleet of 50 such ships, that would be $734,000.”
Mr Natarajan said a similar service has been developed for heavy fuel oil and ultra low sulfur fuel oils. “We look at the energy potential of fuels, looking at the energy density, the calorific value and the combustion properties of fuels,” he said.
Fuel benchmarking could lead to fuel consumption and emissions savings of at least 5%.
Mr. Chew explained how shipowners can get engines to burn more efficiently by using fuels with a catalytic additive.
“Our catalyst brings more oxygen into the fuel, which means the fuel has more energy when burning,” he said, adding fuels can burn up to 40% better. because there is a more complete combustion.
“We deal with fuel pre-combustion making it more homogeneous and preventing fuel loss as sludge,” Chew said. It improves the efficiency of atomization and separation at this stage.
During combustion, this fuel additive improves ignition by reducing ignition delay and increasing energy delivery. Thanks to cleaner combustion, there is less soot and particulates in the exhaust gases.
“Our catalyst reduces fuel consumption and makes engines more efficient,” Chew said.
