Indian Register of Shipping marine biofuels trials successful

In India, Indian Register of Shipping (IRClass) has undertaken successful sea trials for two vessels towards use of biofuels in concurrence with the Indian flag administration. The two vessels – Ambuja Mukund and Ambuja Vaibhav, are owned by Ambuja Cements Ltd., which is a part of the global conglomerate Lafarge Holcim, a leader in building solutions.

In a bid to move towards reducing Greenhouse Gases (GHGs), the trials were carried out and the emission levels for CO2 and NOx at both ballast and loaded voyages were monitored during the trial period.

The results of the trials were found to be satisfactory. The biodiesel blend (B20) was in compliance with Marpol Annex VI (Reg.14) sulphur content requirements and met SOLAS (Ch. II-2/Reg.4.2.1) in terms of flash point requirements. No increase of NOx was observed with biodiesel blend as compared to LSHSD, rather the emission level was found to be less.

Though the reduction in CO2 were found to be around 7 percent, the total life cycle reduction of CO2 by Life Cycle Analysis (LCA) was measured to be around 21% as the biodiesel from Soya extract had a reduction of life cycle GHG emissions by 70%.

Based on the above, Indian Administration has accorded approval of bio-fuels trials for the remaining fleet of vessels of Ambuja Cement which are mainly deployed on the Indian coastal routes.