FUEL ALTERNATIVES :

1) H.F.O. : Heavy fuel oil also known as high Sulphur fuel oil with max. Sulphur
content of 3.5% m/m
2) L.S.F.O.: Low Sulphur fuel oil This fuel oil had a max. Sulphur content of
1.0% m/m and was required to be used by ships entering SECA until 31 st Dec.
2014 . Now this fuel is no longer acceptable for SECA but can be used
outside SECA .
3) U.L.S.D. : Ultra Low Sulphur Diesel Also known as MDO or MGO . This
distillate fuel has a max. Sulphur content of 0.1% and is required to be used
by ships entering SECA from 1st Jan. 2015 .
4) LNG/CNG : Diesel engines can be converted to run on Natural Gas (methane)
as fuel by either using lean burn technology or high pressure gas injection .
In both the cases pilot diesel fuel injection is required . In the first case engine
can be run on about 50-70% NG while in second case it can be run on upto
95% NG . The advantages are high calorific value giving more power output ,
reduced CO2 emissions , reduction in SOx , NOx , PM though there is some
methane slip causing an increase in the THC released and increased CO
emissions .
5) LPG: Diesel engines (CI engines) can be converted to run on LPG as fuel . LPG
is mixed with air in the inlet manifold and sent alongwith air into the
combustion chamber where it is compressed to a high pressure and
temperature . But unlike diesel fuel , LPG has a high auto-ignition
temperature and it will not ignite until a pilot diesel injection is done near the
TDC . Due to pilot injection the combustion starts and the LPG is ignited by
pilot fuel combustion . LPG reduces knocking , provides smooth power
output , reduces PM & THC emissions ,
6) Ethanol : Also known as E-diesel . It can be used in pure form or can be mixed
with petro-diesel in varying proportions to obtain the blend . Some additives
are required to make the blend stable . CI engines burning Ethanol have to be
redesigned with a compression ratio of about 1:28 compared to those normal
diesel engines having a compression ratio of 1:17 . Ignition improvers may be
required for better engine efficiency as ethanol has a high ignition delay . An
alternative method of NOx reduction is to be used to ensure emission are
within the limits as burning ethanol fuels at higher temperatures causes
increased NOX formation . Oxidizing catalysts are added to the E-diesel to
eliminate the CO & HC emissions . However overall carbon footprint of using
Ethanol or E-diesel is low as it recirculates the carbon . But from safe handling
point of view , E-diesel has lower flash point than petro-diesel and currently
cannot be used in the machinery spaces until SOLAS regulations are suitably
modified .
7) Synthetic Diesel : This is produced by various carbonaceous substances like
biomass , biogas , natural gas , coal etc. The raw material is gasified to form
synthesis gas and then converted by Fischer Tropsch process to synthetic
diesel . This has zero sulphur content and very low aromatic content and thus
SOx , THC , NOx and PM emissions are reduced
8) Bio-diesel (FAME-Fatty Acid Methyl-esters) : These are obtained from
vegetable oil or animal fats which are trans-esterified with methanol . The

trans-esterification uses catalyst ,such as sodium pr potassium hydroxide , to

convert vegetable oil and methanol into FAME and byproducts glycerine and
water which have to be removed from FAME alongwith traces of methanol .
FAME can be used as pure Bio-diesel or can be mixed with diesel . Use of Biodiesel gives zero Sox emissions , reduced unburned HC , CO and PM . CO
reductions are upto 50% when compared with petro-diesel , PM is reduced by
about 30% and Total HC (THC) emissions are reduced by about 93%
compared with normal diesel . however they give lot of problems like system
corrosion , conducive environment to microbiological growth , poor oxidation
stability causing degradation of fuel etc. The energy content is low and power
loss can be upto 5-7% . They give greater NOx emissions also . Overall they
reduce the health risks associated with carcinogenic substance emission
released by burning petro-diesels .

Some Theory On Hydrocarbon

Combustion
Atmospheric
Hydro carbon
pressure
Burn
Combustion starts with
99.70 a bang and finishes
Methane C1H4 Gas
% with a fizz
Explosive
Combustion starts with Highly
99.50 a bang and finishes
Flammable
Ethane C2H6
Gas
% with a fizz
(plus)
Combustion starts with
a bang and finishes
Highly
Propane C3H8
Gas
99% with a fizz
Flammable
Combustion starts with
a bang and finishes
Flammable +
Butane C4H10
Gas
98% with a fizz
Hot Burn
Combustion starts with
Liqui 97.50 a fizz and finishes with
Petrol
d
% a bang
Burn
Combustion starts with
Kerosene
Liqui
a fizz and finishes with
(Paraffin)
d
90% a bang
Slow burn
Combustion starts with
Liqui
a fizz and finishes with
Diesel
d
82% a bang
V Fast Fizz
Combustion starts with Needs to be
Liqui
a fizz and finishes with heated before
Light engine oil d
78% a bang
combustion
Source : http://www.gaspoweruk.co.uk/diesellpgbifuel/diesellpgbifuel.html
Stat
e

FUEL TYPE
HFO
MGO

Burn
%

NCV (MJ/Kg)
40
42.7

COST- USD/MT
300
470

COST-USD/MMBTU
7.92
11.62

LNG

49.32

132

2.83