Biofuels: An investigation into the use of Pure Plant Oil as a replacement for Marine Diesel

Summary

The use of pure plant oil (PPO), also known as vegetable oil, as a diesel fuelextender or as a total fuel substitute is known. The concept gained popularity during the fuel crisis in the 1970’s although engine technology at this time was relatively basic. The concept today has two primary drivers for land transportation: cost reduction and environmental footprint. The use of recovered and suitably processed used cooking oil (UCO) can offer further substantial atmospheric carbon dioxide (CO2) mitigation together with a reduction in other regulated exhaust pollutants, such as sulphur dioxide, as well as additional cost savings compared to virgin PPO,.Regenatec has developed technology which retro-fits to diesel engines and allows them to be fuelled by diesel or PPO or UCO. This technology is found in products being sold to owners of land based vehicles, both commercial and domestic. Initial trial work performed by Regenatec on land based vehicles has shown promising results. This project investigated the use of PPO in a trawler, the Jubilee Quest, based in Grimsby, UK, operated on PPO during the Autumn of 2006. The aim of this trial was a technical investigation of the technology and PPO: it was not designed to be a commercial deployment. The use of PPO (and even UCO) is currently commercial unviable in UK marine applications due to the economies of scale enjoyed by the petrochemical industry. (The use of PPO and UCO is only viable for land based vehicles because of a duty rebate currently enjoyed by bio-fuels.) As biofuels start to scale and when the environmental costs of fossil fuels are fully reflected in the cost of the product, it is anticipated that biofuels will become economically viable. As a key part of this project, Regenatec developed their technology into a system to be used at sea by a trawler. Their dual tank system is under electronic control to automate the use of PPO in a diesel engine. This has significant advantages over existing, less sophisticated technology. The engine is started on conventional marine diesel (or biodiesel) and then automatically switches over to the lower cost, more environmentally friendly PPO. The automation greatly improves the ease of use for unskilled operators and removes the potential for engine damage when compared to manual control. Additionally, Regenatec is heavily involved in fuel additive work investigating what fuel additives commonly used to enhance the technical and environmental performance of mineral diesel are applicable to PPO and UCO. This work is being undertaken under Confidentiality Agreement in conjunction with a leading mainstream additive manufacturer. An ‘additive pack’ was not fully developed and therefore not available for field deployment during this project. However, lab work and land based field trials in this area have provided encouraging feedback.

Author

• T Rossiter,
• M Lawton,
• W Smith

Publication date

01 February 2008